Points of Familiarity
by Charles Bhepin
Summary: On one hand, a young mage who begged fate for something that would validate her reason for being. At the other, a young man who sought the desolation of his existence. Where they meet, is the terror that would shake the very foundations of magic.-deadfic
1. Chapter 1: Stranger

**THIS FANFIC IS DEAD. It sucks, honestly. Please read instead the rewrite: Surrogate of Zero.**

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**Points of Familiarity**

A ZnT/NGE crossover fanfic

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_I have, indeed, no abhorrence of danger, except in its absolute effect - in terror. _

Edgar Allan Poe

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A boy lay face-up in a beach, among waters red as blood. Other than the steady roll of the waves, there was only a bleak and blissful silence. He was so used to the everpresent scent of rotting meat that his mind tuned it out. In the darkness behind his eyes, time ceased.

With a body that could not die, a soul slowly starved unto to death.

And then, suddenly, his blank peace was broken by a weird sensation. He was falling. There was a bright flash in the dark. Pain. How familiar. His eyes hurt. It was bright.

He wanted to cry. He wanted to scream, he wanted to shout, to throw a tantrum like a little child. His eyes remained dry and his heart felt hollow. _'Is this it, then? All right. I don't have any choice in anything.'_

He rubbed at the back of his head, and very slowly opened his eyes.

The world unfolded before him. Slowly his senses returned. The feel of the warm sun upon his skin, the rustle of wind through trees, and the beauty of life all around him was more painful than any wound.

"Who are you?" asked the girl, intently examining his face, the clear blue sky behind her. She looked just as confused as he was. She had prayed for anything to appear in her summoning circle, but certainly not a lanky teenager dressed in a plain set of a white shirt over black pants.

She did not seem out of her teenage years yet, with wide curious eyes and long wavy pink her. Underneath a black cloak, she wore a white blouse and a gray pleated skirt. She knelt down and looked at his face more closely.

The strange boy had an otherwise nondescript face, but with slanting eyes that she had never seen before. A foreigner, certainly. Behind her she could her mocking laughter. She firmly repeated her query. "Who are you?"

The boy blinked."Huh? Oh." The confusion in his dark brown eyes began to clear. "I... I am. I am Ikari Shinji."

He shivered, and a dark cloud passed over the sun for a few moments.

"Hmf. Weird name. And where are you from, commoner?"

Shinji blinked. "Commoner?" He winced and clutched at his head. Looking around,he saw others dressed in the same style as the girl disturbingly close to him (though he had to admit, any human being in the same planet counts as far too close). _'It's a uniform of some sort?' _He stared at his palm, thin but otherwise the same. He looked up and asked in a dead tone "What do you mean, commoner?"

"Can you do magic? You don't look wealthy, your clothes are too bland. So, you're a commoner. I couldn't have summoned a noble, it doesn't work like that."

A crowd of black-clad people were examining him. Out in the distance was a large stone castle, like in those old European paintings. _'Huh. I never expected hell to be so... bright_.' Must be irony. He sighed. _'I'm prepared. Let's get this over with.' _

"Louise, what were you thinking, calling a commoner with 'Summon Servant'?" someone asked, and everyone but the girl who was looking at his face started to laugh.

"I... I just made a little mistake!" the girl in front of Shinji shouted in a very insistent voice, melodious like a bell to his ears for its earnest embarassment.

"What mistake are you talking about? Nothing unusual happened."

"Of course! After all, she's Louise the Zero!" someone else said, and the crowd burst into laughter again.

_'So her name is Louise.' _thought Shinji. Whatever place he was in, it was far too warm and comfortable, like a fantasy. It was repulsive. He wanted to dig into the ground, and let cold silence embrace him again. Being scrutinized was nothing, and it was the girl who seemed to be the focus of this emotional torment. Puzzling.

Perhaps, as unlikely as it may sound, it really did not center around him or his sins. He still felt too weak to get up.

"Mr. Colbert!" the girl shouted desperately.

The crowd parted, revealing a balding middle-aged man garbed in a long black robe and carrying a gnarled wooden staff. He looked ridiculous, but something else was starting to intrude upon Shinji's senses. It was like an itching at the back of his head, an insistent presence. It came from the people around him, bouncing off as a bat's echo, and while the man had a strong presence, he felt very little of that mild annoyance from the girl right beside him.

He still did not understand, but a bit of curiosity made him decide to stay quiet and let the scenario play out. The girl named Louise seemed to be in a panic, begging to redo something and gesticulating frantically. He felt somewhat sorry for her, recognizing how mortifying it was to be put on the spot.

"What is it that you want from me, Miss Vallière?" asked the robed man.

"Please! Let me try the summoning one more time!"

_'Summoning? They mentioned it earlier.' _

Mr. Colbert, the man wearing the black robe, shook his head. "I cannot allow that, Miss Vallière."

"Why not?"

"It is strictly forbidden. When you are promoted to a second year student, you must summon a familiar, which is what you just did."

_'A familiar? What's that?' _Shinji blinked. _'Hey. This isn't Japanese they're speaking_.' Mentally, he shrugged. Being able to understand any and all languages every spoken, sung, or written by a human being was an unexpected but not surprising sudden gift. '_Familiar. Hmm. Something that's been encountered before? Something common or easily recognized?_'

"Your elemental specialty is decided by the familiar that you summon." the teacher, apparently, continued. "It enables you to advance to the appropriate courses for that element. You cannot change the familiar once you have summoned it, because the Springtime Familiar Summoning is a sacred rite. Whether you like it or not, you have no choice but to take him."

"But... I've never heard of having a commoner as a familiar!"

Everyone around laughed. Louise scowled at them, but the laughter didn't stop. If anything, seeing her so angry would only fuel their amusement. Shinji knew that apathy took all the fun out of it. The girl was so open with her emotions, that even in his reduced state Shinji felt it was a shame to break that. 'How long has it been?' A few minutes, and the signs were already clear. Peer pressure was such a trifling pain, but it was not too different from how he had been broken.

That train of thought was digging up things best left buried. He forced his brain back into the present with '_Springtime Familiar Summoning?' How would that bring me here?_' It was clear that wherever he was, he'd not gone there of his own power or volition. However, anything that could take rip him loose from the death of everything could only be pretty damn powerful.

"This is a tradition, Miss Vallière. I cannot allow any exceptions; he," the middle-aged wizard cosplayer pointed at Shinji, "may be a commoner, but as long as he was summoned by you, he must be your familiar. Never in history has a human been summoned as a familiar, but the Springtime Familiar Summoning takes precedence over every rule. In other words, there is no other way around it: he must become your familiar."

"You have got to be joking..." Louise drooped her shoulders in disappointment.

'_You have got to be joking_.' Shinji added, his sleepy face not betraying his internal indignation. _'You seriously can't expect me to believe... her? This is all just an accident?'_ On one hand, it meant that fate or some arbitrary power was still more powerful than beings that could weave a new pattern into the fabric of the universe. Something more powerful than him. On the other hand, it meant that he was once again its buttmonkey. On the gripping hand, his protective shell of apathy was starting to crack. He started to raise a hand. "Um, excuse me..."

"Well then, continue with the ceremony."

"With him?"

"Yes, with him." Mr. Colbert replied with an exasperated sigh. "Hurry. The next class will begin any minute. How much more time is this summoning going to take? After mistake upon mistake, you have finally managed to summon him. Hurry and form a contract." Everyone voiced their agreement and began jeering.

Louse stared at his face, clearly trouble.

"A-no..." Shinji ventured to ask 'excuse me, but what the hell?'

"Hey," Louise addressed him, her chin up in the air.

"Yes?"

"You should count yourself lucky. Normally you'd go your whole life without a noble doing this to you."

_'Noble?' _He blinked again. He was born middle-class, and egalitarian to the end. A part of him took dark amusement in that death comes to all people, rich or poor, weak and the mighty.

Louise closed her eyes with an air of resignation. She waved around the wooden stick in her hand.

"My name is Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière. Pentagon of the Five Elemental Powers; bless this humble being, and make him my familiar." She chanted those words over and over, clearly a magic spell what with the glowing motes of light forming around them both, and touched Shinji's forehead with the stick. Her lips then slowly drew closer.

"Wa-what are you doing?"

"Hold still!"

Bad memories assailed the boy. Surely it couldn't be... His face twisted in panic.

"Ah, geez! I told you to stay still!" Louise grabbed Shinji's face roughly with both hands. Exactly like what he had experienced before. As their faces grew closer fear hammered into the boy's chest. 'No, no! Not this again!' he screamed inside. It was the key to some of his worst memories, and the festering reservoir of his weakness.

She kissed him, just a touch, but she blushed as she pulled away. The boy looked at her with sheer horror. She frowned at that.

"Hey! A commoner like you should feel grateful that I even dared to go that far. If it wasn't so necessary, I'd... bah!" It was even her first kiss! She got up and flicked at her hair. "You're my familiar now, understand?"

Shinji was still trying to recover from a panic attack. "Not really, no."

"You have failed 'Summon Servant' many times, but you have managed to succeed with 'Contract Servant' in one try," Colbert said happily.

"It's just because he's only a commoner." someone from the crowd jeered.

"If he was a powerful magical beast, she wouldn't have been able to make a contract." Some of the students laughed.

Louise scowled at them. "Don't make fun of me! Even I do things right once in a while!"

"Truly 'once in a while', Louise the Zero," laughed a girl with gorgeous curly hair and freckles on her face.

'**_Servant_**.' The word echoed in Shinji's mind. '_Fine. I deserve this_.' It was not something outside his meager set of skills. He had no pride that would be wounded from just something like that.

The voice of a certain red-headed girl whispered _'Deserve? Someone as worthless as you doesn't deserve -anything-. Not even death. You've been denied that escape, moron.'_

_'You're right. Sorry. I know I'm pathetic.'_

_'You're just going to screw this up. Mess up everyone's chance to live a normal and happy life. How many worlds will you destroy before you're satisfied?'_

"Um. Excuse me? This is a bad idea. A really bad idea. Can we just- ah!" Pain! He clutched at his arm. Burning green marks glowed out from the back of his right palm. "Rrrrghh...!"

Had her familiar been ruder or more outspoken, Louise would have dismissed any discomfort he felt. "Don't worry, it's just the Familiar's Runes being inscribed." Her impatience was tinged with some concern. "It should be over quickly."

It burned, so much he wanted to roll around in pain like a worm on damp soil. Shinji pressed his palm to the ground and and put his left palm over afflicted hand. Green light streamed out from under his fingers. The pain was just about unbearable, but after a few more seconds, it faded. Even the memory of it receded. Shinji stood up and looked at the new tattoo at the back of his hand. "Huh." He turned to Louise. "What does this do?"

Mr. Colbert approached and grabbed at the hand. "That was quick. Hmm... these are some very unusual runes."

_'You've been branded, baka.' _a voice laughed at the edge of the boy's hearing. _'Like a cow. Like a meat animal for the slaughter! How fitting.'_

"Is this permament, sir?"

The wizard nodded. "Sadly, yes. But don't worry too much, young man. It's not all bad." He turned back to the gathered crowd. "Well, that's it. Back to class everyone."

That said, he turned on his heel and floated upward. The rest of the students likewise rose into the air. Shinji watched them go, still rubbing at the back of his hand. Some of the departing students jeered about Louise not even managing levitation. Shinji turned to see the pink-haired girl quivering, with rage or just about to cry, he didn't know. He sighed. "I'm not much good at this." he muttered.

Left by themselves in the courtyard, Louise turned to look up at her summon and churlishly asked "What are you?"

Shinji smiled weakly. "Um... a human?"

"Yes, well... what sort of human? What can you do? Do you have any special powers? Who are you, really?"

Shinji hesitated. "I... don't know. I'm no one special really."

Louise threw her hands into the air. "Whyy? I wanted to have something wicked like a dragon or a griffin or a manticore. At least an eagle or an owl. Why does my familiar have to be so useless?"

"Um... sorry, but what does being a familiar mean? I was... somewhere else, and now I'm here, so why?"

Louise turned and gazed flatly at him. "At least you're not that dense. Aren't you at all concerned about being summoned?"

Shinji shrugged. "There wasn't really anything left for me back... over there. How did you do it? And, um, why me?"

"It wasn't supposed to be you! It's supposed to be ANYTHING but you!"

"Um okay, so this sort of thing isn't the usual then?"

"I've never heard of anyone else summoning a commoner as a familiar. Animal familiars get special abilities or add to the talent of their masters, but you don't even have any magic! How's that supposed to help me?" She groaned and palmed her face. "An animal familiar should also be easier to carry. I only have to worry about feeding it!" Louise, due to her middle sister's animal-loving influence, was at least good with getting along with dumb animals.

_'So it isn't deliberate human slavery, at least.'_ "Can't you just try again?"

"No! The contract has been confirmed! The Summoning is a sacred rite for mages. The only way for me to get a new familiar is if my old familiar is destroyed." She squinted beadily at him. "And I know you don't want that."

Shinji raised his hand in surrender. "So. Magic, huh?" He looked around at the lavish, sculpted grounds reminiscent of medieval paintings. "This is something of a school, then?"

"All right, I don't know what backwoods you came from, but it's fine. I will explain it to you." Louise gestured around. "This is Tristain! And this is the renowned Tristain Academy of Magic!" She pointed to herself. ""I'm a second year student, Louise de La Vallière. I am your master from now on. Remember that!"

Shinji raised his hand. "Valiey-ru.. veli... Louise-san, a question?"

"Go ahead."

"Okay, I'll accept that this is a magic school." There was no rule that said the afterlife or his purgatory or whatever new hellish reality was pulled into had to make any sort of sense. "But, second year? How old are you?"

Louise sputtered. "How- how rude! But I'll have you know that I, Louise de la Vallière, am seventeen years of age."

Shinji nodded. "Ah."

"You... you insolent dog! You were thinking -things-, weren't you?"

"I was actually impressed, thinking you were a prodigy or something."

"Silence!" As she had expected, she was again being dismissed for her physical stature. It hurt, even though he could not have known abour her lack of magical ability and how much that reduced her stature even more among her peers.

"My apologies, Louise-dono."

"Don't call me directly by name. It's improper. And it's Louise, not Louise-Sann or Louise-Donno."

"Um, it's hard for me to say Vallye... your family name. And in my country, it's a mark of respect to add those things at the end of every name. It's impolite to just say the name, it implies familiarity. Louise-san means something like the honorable Louise, and Louise-dono means the noble Louise."

"So you people put honorifics at the back of the name?" the pink-haired girl scoffed. "How... backwards."

Shinji shrugged. "That's how I was raised."

"Well, at least you're not trying to be impolite. Okay, I guess I can tolerate this situation for a while. Follow me." That said, Louise turned around sharpy and began walking towards the castle.

Shinji followed a few steps behind. He touched at his lips. _'She reminds me of you.' _he whispered aside. _'A little of... Ayanami, I think.' _The crushing loneliness was familiar, but unlike Shinji, Louise did not take the option of apathy. She had too much pride for that. _'My own free will is the least of things I can give up, clearly I can't be trusted to decide things on my own.'_

_'A pathetic little girl._' whispered his own red-headed angel. _'I almost pity her, having you around to crush what little remains of her sanity.'_

Shinji smiled slightly. _'Too much like you. But you know what, it's kind of nice not being met by violence for a change.'_

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For her part as she shuffled through the hall and absolutely refusing to look back, Louise was dizzy with emotions. All right, so the results was not as she had expected, but it was nonetheless a success. She had a familiar! She had done real, uncontestable magic. For years she had dreamed of getting her own familiar, from it finding out her own sphere of talent in magic, and bringing honor to her name. For so long, it seemed like she had no talent at all.

In a world where nobility was defined as the capacity to perform magic, being so weak was a frightening thing indeed. Wealth or her family's reputation alone could not protect her forever; and to lack ability meant her own prospects for the future would be similarly limited. She shivered.

Louise's room was large and very ornately decorated. To someone who never had much in the way of personal possessions, such opulence was unfortable. Shinji felt itchy. He sat at the foot of Louise's very large bed, while the pink-haired girl sat crosslegged and scowling at him. She looked like she wanted to rewrite reality and substitute her own, but fortunately her last name was Vallière, not Suzumiya.

It was night, and after letting the Academy staff know of her summon, and having him stay in a room while she finished the rest of her classes, Louise was itching with curiosity. "So, why don't you tell me about yourself? Where did you come from?" A commoner he may be, but obviously from nowhere near.

"Someplace very far away." Shinji answered. "It's not important."

"Are you a criminal?" she asked with narrowed eyes.

_'Yes, probably. Guilty in every court of man.' _"What, no!"

"This secretive routine of yours is getting tiresome, servant."

Shinji blinked. "About that..."

"Hmm?"

"You summoned me to become a familiar. I think... I'm remember something about that now. A familiar is supposed to be some sort of animal helper, right? I can't do that. I'm a human."

"I know that!" Louise sighed. "But we're stuck like this."

"What does a familiar actually do?" Faint memories trickled into the back of his mind, but they all boiled down to animals sitting on shoulders and really doing nothing useful. More like pets, if only that some of them could talk.

"A familiar is of vital aid to a magician. Firstly, a familiar is able to grant its master an enhancement in vision and hearing."

"Excuse me, but how does that work? Will a cat familiar allow you to see in the dark, while a dog familiar improves your sense of smell?"

"Don't interrupt!" Louise touched her chin. "Though that would be an interesting effect. But what I means is that what the familiar sees, the master can also see."

"Oh." He looked around. "Does it work?"

"No, I can't see anything."

Shinji let out a held breath. He had few personal qualms left, but that was something that could get... disturbing.

"Also, a familiar will retrieve items that its master desires. For instance, reagents."

"Reagents?"

"Catalyst to be used when casting certain spells. Something like sulfur, or moss..."

"Hm..." Shinji looked down at his hands. "I suppose I can do that, though probably just buying it from the market."

"Anybody can do that! It's supposed to be that a familiar can get reagents fresh and from the wilderness. You don't even know what kind of reagants there are!"

"I'll try to learn, Louise-san."

Louise huffed. "All right. Not that it matters anyway." She pointed at him. "And this is most important of all... A familiar exists to protect its master! The task of protecting them from any and all enemies is a duty of the highest priority! But that might be a little bit problematic for you..."

"Since I'm human...?"

"...A powerful magical beast would almost always defeat its enemies, but I don't think you could even beat a raven."

Shinji Ikari looked down. "I don't think I've ever really managed to protect -anything- in my life." Behind him, a red-haired girl in a red plug suit cackled loudly.

Louise sneered. He looked so thin and helpless, putting her life in his hands was out of the question."This is why I will be having you do things like laundry, cleaning, other miscellaneous tasks that I'm sure even you can do."

Shinji actually laughed. "Actually, I can handle that, Louise-san. I'm used to it. If that's all you need then we shouldn't have any problems."

For the first time, Louise smiled. The boy thought she looked quite pretty, vibrant in a way that made him seem so pale and without definition. Fragile, too. Thin as he may be, it also looked as if Louise never had to do anything too strenuous for any extended period of time. "A magical creature would be useful in doing magic, so the least you can do is not to get in the way of my studies."

"Well, it's not like I don't understand how this is a trouble for you. If there's any way I can help, then I'll do it. But... um... do I get paid?"

"What? You're a familiar! Familiars don't get paid! That's not how it works!"

"Um, sorry. Please don't get mad. I might not have magic powers, but... I do have opposable thumbs." He held up his hand to demonstrate. "I can do things that a cat can't, for example. If you need something fetched, or carried, or I can copy things. Sorry, but if I'm going to be your servant then I'm going to need to eat and a place to sleep."

"You're very presumptous you know that! How dare you dictate terms to a noble."

"Sorry, sorry. It's not really dictating terms... I mean, you do need me to be in a state to effectively carry out your orders, right? I'll try not to be burden."

Louise scowled and crossed her arms over her chest. It was not too unreasonable a request, and it was not like she did not have the resources for it. "You will be provided for. But you will not be paid. This is not no mere transaction! I am your master, you're the familiar! It's not transferrable! There's nowhere else you can go!"

Shinji nodded. So he was going to be a slave in all but name. He supposed he could fight it, but there was no point. There was nothing he wanted, and there was nothing that he wanted to avoid. "Understood, Louise-san."

The girl blinked. She was prepared to go off into a tirade over her advantages over him, and how if he was stuck alone in a foreign land then obeying her orders was his only way to remain safe and comfortable. As a familiar no one would hire him, and if he fled she would have to hunt him down. It would be embarrassing for her though, and she felt relieved that her familiar, strange as he might be, was not being a hassle.

"Don't you want to return to where you came from?" she asked suspiciously. "What you mean there's nothing there for you? You say you're not a criminal... so what?"

Shinji sighed. "This place... you people have magic, right? But you people still have different nations and wars, right?"

"We are at peace, but you're correct. Clashes between kingdoms do happen."

"Back... home. We don't have magic. But we do have wars anyway. We fought against these monsters, giant things we called Angels, and we lost. When I say nothing, I mean... there's nothing there. Everything I've ever loved is dead. I don't want to go back there."

"But Angels are good! What, are you demon-worshippers?"

Shinji blinked. "Huh. I suppose it could be thought that way. Um, there's something wrong with the magic that translates my language to yours, I think. The name is '_Shito_'... messengers. Their race calls themselves that, maybe. To themselves, they are Angels. To us, they just appeared out of nowhere to kill us all and make our lands their own."

"How big are these _Shito_?"

"Oh, big. Very big. Some of them as tall as this castle."

Louise moved her head closer. "You're lying. We should have heard something about that by now. How can you fight something like that without magic?"

"I'm not lying. We didn't really fight them, not really. There were these... things... they're like children of the monsters, that we used and trained to fight against the others."

"You know, something like that, it could be why they're attacking. I mean, even animals tend to get angry about their young being stolen and used against them."

Shinji shrugged. "Maybe. All I know is that if we didn't we'd die."

"But you said you lost! How did YOU survive?"

Shinji's gaze was hollow and his voice betrayed no emotion. "I ran. I hid. I closed my eyes and pretended it would go away on its own. In the end all I could do was to watch it all fall apart."

"So you're a coward."

Shinji shrugged again. "I'm not going to deny that."

"I don't think I want you as my familiar."

"I'm sorry. But you did say we're stuck like this." He looked out the window, at the clear blue sky, then back to Louise's eyes. "You could kill me and try for a better familiar. I won't blame you."

Louise shoved him back and off the bed. "What kind of girl do you think I am! No way I would do that!" And besides, she thought, there's no guarantee that it would actually work a second time.

"Thank you, Louise-dono. Your kindness, I'll do my best to repay it."

Louise sighed. She could trust an animal. But a human? Commoners were such a vicious conniving lot. "All this talk has made me sleepy."

"Um... okay. Sorry to be a bother, I'll leave you alone to- wait. Where do I sleep?"

Louise pointed to the floor.

"Here?"

"But there's nowhere else. And there's only one bed."

"But... that's improper! Servants don't sleep in the same room as their masters!" Shinji frantically thought of an excuse. "I mean, what would people think?"

Louise smirked, though pleased. "At least you do have some sense of decorum. But it doesn't matter. You're not a servant. You're a familiar, don't you understand? A FAMILIAR. This is what's proper." Louise began to unbutton her blouse until she was down to her underwear.

"Wa- what are you doing?"

Louise looked at him blandly. "I'm going to sleep, so I'm getting changed."

"E-excuse me." Shinji turned around sharply and went for the door.

"If you go out there, you better get used to sleeping under the stars!"

"Ergh." Slowly he turned around. Her bare flesh seemed to glow before his eyes. A cruel whisper drifted from ear to ear 'You're enjoying this.' He snarled. 'No! I don't!' "What the hell am I supposed to do? Is this normal for a mage?"

"I don't need to think of anything about being watched by my familiar."

_'What the hell. Am I just like a dog or a cat or something?_' "Seriously, Louise-san, this is really awkward for me." He turned around and kept his eyes on the wall.

For her part, though her face did not show it, Louise felt both thrilled and offended. Though he looked terrified, as indeed a commoner should, she had no idea if her body was appealing to him at all. Sure, she did not have a figure like many of her classmates, but surely she should be able to provoke a reaction.

She decided to go one further. She pulled off her underwear and threw it over her shoulder. "Oh, and these- wash them for me tomorrow."

There was some sort of strange gurgling sound, and a weak "Hai." She turned around to see him all but throw away the offending garments to over the dresser. Shinji took a wooly blanket and all but burrowed into it.

Nothing but a commoner after all. No fun. She supposed there was no point in any further teasing. She yawned and very quickly fell asleep.

Shinji remained awake for a long time. He was in position with so many potential horrible consequences. He supposed any normal person in his position would be afraid, or trying to make the best of a bad situation. He just didn't know what to do. Trying to resist and raise hell, it might make the situation worse, but he was cowardly enough not to go looking for trouble on his own.

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Morning brought with it an surprised gasp. Shinji poked his head out of his blanket cocoon to see the door hurriedly being closed. '_What_.' The sunlight streamed right into his face and stung his eyes. '_Oh. Right. It wasn't a dream_.' Daystar, his old nemesis.

A bright flash of white brought his attention back to undergarments. He groaned. "It's like Misato-san all over again!_"_ He turned towards the bed. '_She's a student. Shouldn't someone be here to.. oh_.' He turned to the door. "I guess it's my job now."

Sleeeping, Louise looked almost cherubic. Unfortunately, any and all angelic connotations for Shinji was sparked only atavistic fear instincts. He searched for something he could use as a poking stick, but found none. Sighing again, he had to go over and pull the blankets out. "Um... Louise-san? It's morning."

"Wha- what's going on? Who are you?"

"I'm Ikari Shinji, remember?"

"Oh, right. The familiar. I summoned you yesterday, didn't I?" Her face was blank and her voice woozy. "So it wasn't a dream after all."

"No. Sorry."

Louise rubbed at her face. "Clothes." she ordered, holding out her left arm.

Shinji looked around, and at the discarded uniform from last night. He turned to the drawers instead, and opening it was relieved to find several other fresh uniforms. He had been around women enough to know that while he might be fine with wearing the same shirt for days on end, wrinkled clothes reflected badly upon the wearer. Nobles would get prissy about things like that.

Louise was already starting to slip off her sleeping clothes. "Underwear." she ordered again, in the same disinterested tone.

"I don't... gah."

"It's over there by the bottom drawer."

Somewhat panicking, Shinji obeyed, closing his eyes as he handed it over. A part of him recognized that it was a very good opportunity to get a good look, it was not like she cared about it, but even if he had already been the lowest of the low, Shinji did not consciously want to become a pervert. The sight of bare female flesh was terrifying for a variety of other reasons.

"Clothes." Louise mumbled again.

"You already have them."

"Dress me."

_'Oh come on!'_ "Um... sorry, but I don't think that's a good idea."

Louise pouted. "You must not know because you're a commoner, but nobles will not dress themselves if a servant is available."

Still with his back turned "Yes, I know that, but even then usually it's only female servants that dress female nobles, right? Even if it's not improper for you to say it, I... I don't know how! Can't I just call for someone else?"

"Nope, you're my familiar. You're going to have to get used to this." Louise raised her finger triumphantly. "You're a servant, if you don't work, you don't eat."

Shinji sighed and turned around. She was still dressed only in her undergarments. Very reluctantly he picked up her blouse. "This still feels so very improper."

"Why? You're just a familiar after all."

"Even so, I'm a guy and you're very pretty. If I tried this back home, I'd get kicked in the face."

Louise actually blushed. "W-well, just make sure you control yourself then! The punishment for any improper behaviour... it's bad! Really bad!"

Shinji sighed. "I know. But I don't even know what -improper- here even means." Her carefully kept his gaze on his fingers as he buttoned her blouse. "I'm dependent on your protection, Louise-san, but I can't be frightened all the time about offending you or something if I accidentally touch something I shouldn't." He bent down to pick up her skirt.

"I can dress myself just fine from here on." Louise's voice pitched up. "Get out and wait."

"Hai, hai." Shinji replied, just as relieved.

oo

Leaving Louise's room, Shinji faced three identical wooden doors along the wall. One of them opened, and a tall girl with flaming red hair stepped out. She was taller than him by a head, for Shinji was not really that much taller than Louise. She gave off a strongly flirtatious aura, with her attractive face and melon-sized breasts proudly displayed with two top buttons of her blouse left undone.

She looked oddly him, who sat by the door. When it opened and Louise came out, she grinned broadly. "Good morning, Louise."

Louise returned the greeting with a frown. "Good morning... Kirche."

"That... is your familiar?" Kirche asked somewhat mockingly, pointing at Shinji.

"That's right."

"Ahaha! So it really is a human! That's amazing!"

Shinji shrugged. He closed his eyes and rubbed at the bridge of his nose, as if fighting a headache. It was either that or stare at those breasts, and while they were nice to look at they also brought traumatic memories. He'd seen larger breasts. Perfectly-shaped and the size of mountains.

_'A particularly beautiful woman is a source of terror.'_ He was not sure why, but he pretty sure that Carl Jung said that.

"It's just like you to summon a commoner with 'Summon Servant.' What else to expect from Louise the Zero?" Kirche was saying, to Louise's increasing anger. "I summoned a familiar yesterday, too. Unlike a certain somebody, I was successful on my first try."

"Really."

"And, if you're going to have a familiar, it should be a good one, like this. Flame!" Kirche called her familiar triumphantly. From her room, a large, dark-red lizard slithered out. A wave of heat hit Shinji.

_'Huh'._ "Charmander?" He squinted. It was about the size of a tiger, and its head was broad like a cobra's.

"It's a salamander. Is this your first time seeing a fire lizard?"

"Are there any yellow rodents that throw lightning and speak only '_pika-chu_'?"

Kirche laughed. "I don't think so, boy."

The two familiars stared at each other. The salamander hissed and turned away with its head pridefully high.

"That's right! A fire lizard! See, look at the tail. A flame this vivid and large means it's without a doubt a salamander from the Fire Dragon Mountains! It's like a brand! Collectors can't even put a price on these!"

"That's nice," Louise said, her voice bitter.

"Isn't it? It matches my affinity perfectly!" Kirche puffed her chest out proudly. "Of course, I am Kirche the Ardent after all. The ardent of gently smoldering passion, wherever I go, I have boys falling for me, unlike, say, someone named 'the Zero'."

Louise glared at Kirche. It looked as if she really hated losing. "I don't have the time to go around flirting with everything I see, unlike you."

Kirche only smiled calmly. Then, she turned to Shinji.

"And what's your name?"

Shinji got to his feet and bowed. "Ikari Shinji."

"Ikarishinji? What a strange name."

"It's just Shinji, actuall-"

"Well then, I'll be off now." She stroked her flaming red hair back and dashed off. The salamander followed her, waddling cutely for such a large and dangerous creature.

As she disappeared, Louise shook a fist in her direction. "Ooh, that girl gets on my nerves! Just because she summoned a salamander from the Fire Dragon Mountains! Argh!"

"Please calm down, it's just a summoning."

"No, it's not! You can determine a mage's true power just by looking at her familiar! Why did that idiot get a salamander, while I got you?"

'_The fact that you get me means either you're stupidly powerful, or someone with that much power really likes you or hates me._' "Sorry. But what's wrong with being a human? You're a human."

"Comparing mages and commoners is like comparing wolves and dogs." she replied haughtily.

Shinji just sighed again. She was starting to get predictable in taking what her ego would allow. "I mean, I might not have any magical power, but I am larger than a cat or toad, and trust me when I say you summoned me from really far away. Does the ritual take a mage's own power or is it magic itself that decides?"

"Obviously it takes a mage's own power, how else can a familiar show a mage's own sphere? Flame mages get familiars that suit their affinity. Why -you- showed up..." her voice dropped. "I don't know what that says about me."

"I don't have any idea, sorry." _'Is there an affinity for 'Death' magic?'_

Louise stomped off. Following, Shinji pondered how Kirche was known as the "Ardent" while Louise was the "Zero." After watching her get insulted by very nearly everybody yesterday, and the mocking way the Kirche added the title, he was quite sure it was not a good thing.

It was a strange experience, watching from the outside seeing someone get bullied so thoroughly for a change. It was still a strange puzzle. He could feel the master-familiar bond at the edge of his soul. He could break it, but not without tearing apart Louise's own soul in the process. His stride faltered for a moment. He was alive, obviously, but it was doubtful if what he had could even be called a 'soul' anymore. _'Did you have anything to do with this?'_

_'Don't be even more of a moron. I don't have the ability to do this. -You- don't have the ability to do this. There's something weird going on.'_

ị

ị

The Academy of Magic's dining hall was the tallest and centermost building on the premises. Inside, three extremely long tables were arranged parallel to each other. Each one looked like it could easily seat a hundred people. The table at which Louise and all the second years sat was the middle table. It appeared that students could be identified by the color of their cloaks. Viewed from the entrance, everyone sitting on the left-hand table looked a little older and wore purple cloaks — third students sitting on the right-hand table wore brown cloaks — first years.

_'Hmm. So there's only three year levels in this school. Or... I might be wrong_.' A part of him mentioned that since these are nobility, maybe the advanced years were allowed to take breakfast in bed, or there are special elite dining halls where they could dine away from the younger, noisier generation.

On an upper level, he could see teachers enjoying pleasant chatter. All the tables were magnificently decorated. Numerous candles, bunches of flowers, baskets full of fruit... he was amazed at the grandeur of the place. Shinji could take some pride in being able to cook well some recipes, but this was a place of glory. Louise raised her head imperiously and began to explain. Her hazel eyes twinkled with mischief.

"Tristain's Academy of Magic doesn't teach just magic, you know."

"Hm,..?"

"Almost all mages are nobles. The saying 'nobles achieve nobility through the use of magic' is a foundation for the education we receive as nobles. Thus, our dining halls must also be fitting of a noble's status."

"Ah... I understand." Apparently Louise was not that unusual, her magical talent aside. Ostentation was the order of things.

"Understand? Normally, a commoner like you would never set foot inside the Alvíss Dining Hall. Be grateful." She pointed out the rows of elaborate sculptures of small people lining the walls. Even Shinji had heard of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. These little people were tiny, and much too thin to be dwarves.

"Fairies?" Through osmosis he did know of fairies, though more Navi than Tinkerbell.

"What? No, listen, fairies are different. They're Alvii. They come to life at night and help humans."

"Oh. Elves."

Louise shook her head at his sad ignorance. "No, elves are totally different! Were you raised up in the mountains, or something?" She paused at the table.

Shinji pulled out one of the dining chairs for Louise to sit. She did so with smooth casualness. "Okay. What now?"

"What else? We eat, obviously."

There were many seats, at least a hundred, and the dishes were laid out buffet style. In fact, there were so many that he wondered just how the students were expected to pick and reach for their meals at all. Then, he remembered, magic. It was not worth thinking about. He sat down next to Louise and fidgeted. Now he could add a sumptous banquet to his list of phobias.

"What do you think you're doing?" the girl asked archly.

Shinji looked down at the empty plate then back up to Louise's face. "Um, preparing to eat?"

"This is a table for nobles. Are you a noble? It's enough of an honor that you get to eat in the same hall."

_'What? Then why the did you bring me here in the first place? To show off? To humiliate me?'_ As fast as his indignation surged, it receded back into his pool of morose reality. Louise wanted to impress her familiar with her own status and the gulf between the two of them. "So where am I supposed to eat?"

A maid with neck-length black hair approached. She carried a tray and was very obviously embarrassed. Mumbling some unintellegible apology she laid the tray on the floor and all but fled from the scene. Louise pointed down.

"I have to eat off the floor?"

"You're a familiar, not a noble, and commoners can't eat here. Understand?" Dark challenge glittered in Louise's eyes.

Behind him, Shinji heard racuous laughter. _'Oh this is just rich. She's trying to break you... like a horse! Like a pony! Clearly someone doesn't realize you can't break something -__**twice**__-.'_

The boy got up and bowed. "Thank you, Louise-san." He meant it, oddly enough, hus gentle smile told her that. Shinji sat cross-legged on the tiled floor and considered his breakfast. It was some sort of clear soup and a crumbly croissant. The bread was still warm, and smelled creamy. It could be worse, he supposed. He did not deserve even that little bit of kindness.

A portion of him knew that if he were louder and more demanding, Louise would probably retaliate by making his situation even more uncomfortable. While he thought he deserved any and all punishment, sadly he recognized he was still too much of a coward to deliberately seek unpredictability. While objectively he was suffering, it would not really be for what he had done -before-, and as such even present tortures would not count. He could only leave it up to fate, which he trusted to be a most cruel mistress at least.

To Louise, it was like a child while out exploring the back yard being confronted by something utterly new and alien to her experience. The first thing to do would be to get a stick and poke the thing to see how it reacts. Louise did not know how to deal with people, it was also obvious. She would just keep on poking and prodding until she got an emotional reaction. She would not rest until she knew of a trigger. Shinji was resigned to that fate. Asuka was like that, too.

As he munched on his bread, he wondered if he should fake some sort of angry outburst. His difficulty lay with feeling -_anything_- at all. Insults and spite for his inadequacy was actually quite comforting, bringing up memories of a simpler, more innocent time. He felt more like puking. His body had to remember what it meant to require sustenance.

ị

ị

Shinji Ikari had very little to compare against for a magic school, but he did have certain expectations. He was quite surprised by how -normal- it looked, other than being set in a castle. The classrooms were very similar to a lecture hall, though like almost everything else in the castle made out of stone. The wooden seats and desk facings were for the sake of 'decorative heat', not only to make it more comfortable for study but because the aesthetic '_living heat' _of wood tended to accentuate the _'cold hardness_' of stone.

Shinji rubbed at his chin. Apparently pointless trivia was the limit of what Post-Impact's sacrifice was willing to grant. When he and Louise entered, every student in the room simultaneously turned their heads towards them. It was like a bunch of owls.

There was distinctly unkind snickering. Kirche was there as well, surrounded by a group of boys. Shinji was not surprised. Had he been less of a traumatized wreck, he supposed he would be drawn to that figure like a moth to a flame. He far preferred to avoid any notice. Far more interesting were the varied bunch of familiars that everyone else had brought along. Kirche's salamander was curled asleep under her chair. There were students with owls resting on their shoulders. From a window, a gigantic snake peered into the class. One boy whistled, and the snake withdrew its head. Other than those, there were also ravens and cats.

What drew his eyes were the fantastic beasts that never existed except in stories in his Earth. He spotted a lizard with six legs, with a tail ending in flat, feathery fin. There was also a huge eyeball floating gently in midair. He decided to ask Louise. "What's that eye monster?" he pointed discreetly.

"A bugbear."

"Huh." A memory bubbled up. "The bugbears I know are more like larger, hairy, goblin-like creatures. Um, you do have goblins?"

"They're a pest. Then they're nothing like bugs OR bears?"

"Floating eye, Louise-san." Shinji pointed. What was bear-like at all about that?

"Yes, that's always bothered me too. No one could ever really explain it well."

"Then what about that octopus thing?"

"That's a Skua, and I'm not here to explain such useless things to you." Louise answered him in a sullen voice and sat down. The snickering had yet to subside. She knew what it was about.

Shinji remained standing. He could see the other students glancing and contemptously dismissing his presence. He sat down on the floor, but there was not enough room to stretch out his legs. He could it from the other angle, but that would stick his legs out to full view on the space between the desks. He wanted to hide.

"Um, Louise-san, can I wait outside?"

"No." she hissed. "Do you see any other familiar so disrespectful as to abandon its master?" If she had to endure it, then so should he! She considered making him sit down on the floor, but he would likely just lie down to go to sleep. He had that look of laziness that made it difficult to trust in his competence at anything. "Sit down and be quiet." she gestured to the chair next to her.

The door opened, and the teacher entered. She was a middle-aged woman dressed in a voluminous purple robe and wearing a hat. She had a plump, round face with a friendly expression on woman looked around the classroom and spoke with a satisfied smile.

"Well, everyone, it seems that the Springtime Familiar Summoning was a great success. I, Chevreuse, always enjoy seeing the new familiars that are summoned each spring."

Louise looked down. She put a palm of ever her face.

"My, my. You've summoned quite a... peculiar familiar, Miss Vallière," she remarked as she looked at Shinji. The comment was fairly innocent, but the classroom exploded with laughter.

"Louise the Zero! Don't go around grabbing random commoners off the street just because you can't summon anything!"

"No! I did everything properly! He was all that appeared!"

"Don't lie! I bet you couldn't even cast 'Summon Servant' properly, right?" The other students chuckled.

"Mrs. Chevreuse! I've been insulted! Malicorne the 'Common Cold' just insulted me!" Louise banged her fist against the desktop in protest.

"Common cold? I'm Malicorne the Windward! I haven't caught any cold!"

"Well, your hoarse voice sounds exactly like you've caught one!"

The boy called Malicorne stood up and glared at Louise. Chevreuse pointed at them with the wand in her hand. The two suddenly jerked about like puppets on a string and rigidly sat back down.

Shinji blinked. It was his first time seeing real magic. No incantation, no flash of light, just a flick and swish and people were being forced to act. Telekinesis?

"Miss Vallière, Mister Malicorne. Please stop this unnecessary argument. Calling friends _'Zero' _or '_Common Cold'_ is not acceptable. Do you understand?"

The boy, Malicorne, snootily replied that he was called that as a joke, but for Louise, it was the truth. A few giggles broke out from somewhere.

Chevreuse looked around the classroom with a severe expression. She pointed her wand again, and, as if from nowhere, the mouths of the students who'd giggled were suddenly filled with lumps of red clay. This effectively stopped any further outbursts.

"Now then, let's begin the lesson." Chevreuse coughed heavily and waved her wand. A few pebbles materialized on her desktop.

"My Runic name is 'Red Clay.' Chevreuse the Red Clay. This year, I will be teaching you all the magic of the Earth element. Do you know the four great elements of magic, Mister Malicorne?"

His mouth was not filled with clay, and the noble looked around to see the others trying to spit out the gummy wads in their mouths without much success. It was undignified. "Y-Yes, Mrs. Chevreuse. They are Fire, Water, Earth and Wind."

Chevreuse nodded. Shinji blinked again. That sounded... familiar.

"And combined with the now-lost element of 'Void,' there are five elements in total - as everyone should already know. Of the five elements, I believe Earth holds an extremely important position. This isn't just because my affinity is Earth, nor is it simply a personal preference."

Once again, Chevreuse coughed pointedly. "The magic of Earth is very important magic that governs the creation of all matter. If it wasn't for Earth magic, we wouldn't be able to produce or process necessary metals. Raising buildings from large boulders and harvesting crops would also involve much more work. In this manner, the magic of the Earth element is intimately related to everyone's life."

_'I wonder if science works in the same way here? Science is a method, not a product, so... it should. It just takes the form of magical theory and experimentation.'_

Shinji did not turn around. He felt hands on the back of his chair and red hair touching the back of his neck. _'You're interested in this?'_

_'It's better than watching you go around being a lapdog. Sheesh, you just don't stop being so boring. Of course, when you're not boring you're killing everything. Heh heh heh.'_

'_I guess you better be content with just watching students learn to do something you can't_.' Shinji smiled thinly.

_'You know, I just realized, this is probably the closest thing to a college education you're ever going to get. How do you like them apples, Third Child?_'

Shinji decided those were some very sour apples. The teacher was now explaining something about Earth magic and transmutation. Small pebbles became shiny yellow metal, which prompted wondrous exclamations. It was not gold, just brass. "Only Square-class mages are able to transmute to gold. I'm just..." Chevreuse gave a self-important cough. "A Triangle mage..."

'_Hey, listen. I want to know more about this. Ask that girl._'

Shinji sighed. "Excuse me, Louise-san."

"What now? Don't be a bother during lessons!"

"What is this about triangle and squares?"

"It's the number of elements that they can add to a spell, which also determines the level of a mage."

"I... don't understand."

"See, for example, you can use an Earth spell on its own. But if you add Fire magic to it, the overall power or effect of the spell increases greatly," Louise added in a whisper.

"I see."

"Those who can stack two elements like Fire and Earth together are called Line mages. Mrs. Chevreuse, being able to combine three elements, Earth-Earth-Fire, is a Triangle mage."

"Earth and Earth? What happens when you add an element to itself?"

"It reinforces that element and makes it stronger."

_'Wait, what? Why don't you just put more power into it, then? Come on, clarify!_' Shinji winced slightly at the pulling at the back of his head. "Sorry, but a spell a discrete 'block' of potential, so a Triangle mage can use three spells at once? Or does this mean combining elements make a new spell?"

"No, weren't you listening? Transfiguration is an Earth element spell. But if you add other elements, you can vary the transfiguration. Our teacher can only turn stone into brass, it takes more to turn it into gold." While her practice may be lacking, Louise could take legitimate pride in knowing the theory forwards and back. "The spell remains the same, it's the effect that changes."

"I see. Thank you."

'_So each element is represented as a vertex? One is a point, two is a line, et cetera. There are four known elements, so a Square or being able to use four elements at once is a good goal. But since you can add an element to itself, do they stay polygons or branch into other polytopes? Add the fifth, and that's what? Pyramid? Ah, pentagon. Meh. A pentagon keeps it to a plane, while a pyramid should imply something -__**whole**__-. Anything above that just sounds redundant. Hey, baka, verify_.

"Um, could you therefore say that the teacher over there is a fairly powerful mage, because she's a Triangle?" A teacher should be a good reference point for magical power.

"Exactly."

"Oh. How many can you add, Louise-san?" His own meager pride refused to entertain the notion that his being dragged away from his own private purgatory could be an accident. She would -have- to be that powerful. Nothing else makes sense. "Someone like you who obviously has so much talent as to skip right into the advanced class... two? Maybe even three?"

"Just what are you implying?"

"What? You look about my age and ohh shit." He just remembered that she had proclaimed she was seventeen years of age.

'_You just don't ever stop being an idiot, do you?_'

'_Aaagh! It's not my fault!_'

"You insolent familiar! I'm not some jumped-up brat! I'm here because it's the proper time for me to learn! If you've got something to say, speak plainly!"

The teacher had noticed her talking, as Louise was conspicously leaning from her seat to hiss angrily at her familiar. "Since you have the time to chatter, perhaps I should have you demonstrate for me?"

"Eh? Me?"

"Yes. Try changing these pebbles here into a metal of your choice."

She looked troubled, fidgeting in her seat, absolutely unwilling to stand up. Shinji knew the feeling. He wondered if it was a complicated spell. At the back of his mind Asuka was cursing about '_elemental subatomic structural transformation_' and '_fuck these fuckers have the Philosopher's Stone as a basic lesson. Equivalent exchange my ass!_'

"Miss Vallière! Is something the matter?"

Kirche raised her hand in concern. "Umm... I think it would be better if you didn't let her..."

"And why is that?"

"It's dangerous," Kirche answered plainly. The majority of the class nodded in agreement.

"Dangerous? How so?"

"This is your first time teaching Louise, right?"

"It is, but I hear she's a hard worker. Now, Miss Vallière. Don't you worry, just try it. You won't be able to do anything if you dread making mistakes."

"Don't, Louise!" Kirche cried, her face pale.

Louise stood up. Her lips were thin and tense. She walked briskly up to the front of the room.

It was said that combat veterans developed such a thing as a danger sense. Much of Shinji Ikari's training was learning how to ignore the natural rising panic of being a squishy human and letting the Evangelion's own power tear through any and all obstacles in its way. Unfortunately this meant all he had left was an acute sense of potential physical harm and an instinct to turn his body TOWARDS danger rather than the opposite (and sane) response. He was all but anchored to his seat.

"Miss Vallière, you have to visualize vividly the metal that you wish to transmute them into."

Luise nodded.

'_Hey, wait a second. Any metal? Don't you have to add Elements or something? Changing the atomic number, is that straight energy to matter conversion or are you disassembling the atoms and mixing it with ambient hydrogen from the air?'_

_'Asuka, you CAN'T do magic. Why are you even so interested in this?'_

_'You know, just because it's going to make your life harder, I can ignore this elitist noble shit. But if you can turn element into another element, why the hell does it look like they still have an economy? This offends me!'_

It was moments like this that reminded him that she was probably more than she appeared. He turned his attention back to the teacher's table. There, Louise was chanting something, while holding her wand over the pebbles. Soft light pulsed from the little rocks. Concentration was clear on her face, her diction precise and controlled. She looked every inch the magician. Yet, Shinji noticed that all other students were crouching down to hide behind their desks.

Closing her eyes, and taking a deep breath, Louise uttered a short final phrase and flicked her wand down.

The pebbles on the desk promptly exploded in a bright flash of multicolored light.

Louise and Chevreuse caught the blast full-on and were thrown against the blackboard. The desk itself crumpled under the force of the explosion. People screamed, and responding to their distress the familiars began to panic, adding to the chaos.

Shakily, Kirche stood up and pointed a finger at Louise, who lay kneeling and clutching at her head.

"That's why I told you not to let her do it!"

"Jeez, Vallière! Save us some grief and just quit school already!" someone else screeched.

Shinji just stared. '_That was completely unexpected_.' He remained in the same position as before, completely unscathed. Even his desk was free of dust.

Mrs. Chevreuse lay on the floor; judging by her occasional twitching, she wasn't dead. A soot-blackened Louise rose slowly. She was a miserable sight to behold. Her torn blouse revealed a slender shoulder, and her panties could be seen beneath her ripped skirt. Still, she seemed unfazed by the pandemonium. She smiled sheepishly.

"Looks like I messed up a little..." she said, in a weak voice.

Of course, that elicited a vehement response from the other students. "That wasn't 'a little!', Louise the Zero!"

"Your success rate is always ZERO!"

'_I see... so that's what, not a reference point, but in not showing up at all in the grid?_' murmured Asuka, placing both elbows on Shinji's head. _'So she can't manipulate any of the elements? This begs the question if the Summoning could be considered a spell of any elements at all_.'

'_That was rather devastating_.' Louise looked devastated. With the class still in chaos and the other teachers coming to inspect the damage, she stood in front of the class, corpse-rigid with clenched fists. '_I'm starting to understand why she's able to summon me.'_

_'Really now? After that dismal performance?'_

_'Yeah, I mean, what else can you expect from someone who apparently makes even the most basic spells almost -lethal-?_' An odd joy blossomed in his heart. Maybe, if he was really lucky, this meant that Louise the Zero, of all mages, could actually be capable of -killing- him.

ị

ị

It was just before lunch when they managed to finally finish up tidying up the classroom that Louise's accidental magic made such a mess of, and as punishment magic was forbidden in cleaning it up. Since it was the first class of the day, the task took considerable time. It was not as if Louise could have made any use of the cleaning spells that she knew, so it did not faze either of the two.

Mrs. Chevreuse had regained consciousness two hours after she'd been caught in the explosion, and while she did return to class, she didn't give any more lectures on Transmutation for that entire day. Louise, stuck cleaning, was not able to offer her apologies, but she was already familiar with the process. For once, she had hoped for a class where she did not traumatize a teacher; and the woman's kind and confident look from when she asked Louise to step up to the front of the class... that would now be mixed with fear and dismissal. Nobody believed in her. She was just a joke, a walking jinx, for the rest of the academy.

She quietly seethed. '_It's all his fault!_' she cursed inwardly. '_If only he hadn't been so noisy, that jerk! Just because I'm...'_ She bit her lip. She had not been embarrassed so thoroughly like that in a while. And here she had thought things were finally going to turn around! '_No, he just has no ability to discern. I don't really look like a little girl, do I? Even so, he shouldn't have been so crass as to point it out in class!'_

"Um.. Louise-san, I'm sorry about earlier."

Her fingers tightened on a chair's back. '_This chair this chair this chair_.' She visualized herself picking it up and hammering the fool. "I swear, if you don't SHUT UP RIGHT NOW..."

"Um... okay... sorry."

It was Shinji who had to move the desks and wipe down the soot from the blackboard and walls. Now and then he would pause from his work and looked puzzled at Louise. She was getting irritated, more than the usual at least. 'Is he judging me now too?' She tried so very hard, she made sure it was all like the books said, but still... nothing goes right. It was as if fate hated her. She grit her teeth. Fate, her classmates, anyone, she'd show them. She could hate just as strongly right back into their faces.

"Louise-san." Shinji approched, his shoulders slightly bowed in contrition. "I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to be insulting. I was trying to be appreciative. I'm sure you have plenty of talent..."

Louise grabbed him by the collars of his shirt and dragged his face down to her eye level. "What, are you dense? Are you retarded or something? Why are you bringing up this obvious subject that I don't like?"

"I'm sorry. You know, in a way it's a good thing. It's an advantage- ten years down the road, while others have to fear it's all going downhill you'll still look in the prime of your-... " '_What the hell am I saying someone please shut me up! Why can't I stop talking?_'

"RARGH!" Louise roared and punched him in the face.

Shinji's instinct was to lean into the blow. Unfortunately, while this meant that it hurt more, the force of that punch hitting his cheek rebounded back into Louise's thin wrist. She yelped in pain.

"Oh crap! Louise-san! I'm sorry. Are you all right?"

She began kicking as she cradled her injured hand. "What the hell is your problem?" She opened and clenched her fist, until satisfied there was no permanent damage.

Shinji looked down at the soot-blackened rag in his hand. "Well, I don't know magic, but think it was pretty impressive."

"Are you mocking me?"

"No, no... honest. How can a big explosion come from a few little pebbles? You'd have to turn the pebbles into volatile air, then explode that air... where I come from, that takes a lot of power or some sophisticated machinery." Shinji nodded. "If you could do that to pebbles, how about a rock? A boulder? A mountain? You'd be very dangerous, Louise-san. I can think of a few times where that would have been useful."

Louise stopped in her meager attempt to help out. She squinted at him. "You, you said you thought I was about your age. How old are you really?"

"Me? Um... I'm still fifteen, I think." Or sixteen? It was rather hard to tell, Impact did strange things to spacetime.

Louise frowned. He was not much taller than her, but she had really thought he was much older than that. His eyes were -old-. Looking carefully now, what she had thought was the thinness of an ill-fed commoner was the lankiness of person still in the growing stage. She sighed. So not only did she get an ignorant familiar, but a young AND ignorant familiar.

Still... he looked so non-threatening. He cringed. He mumbled. He slouched, trying to look smaller and ignorable. He acted in every way like a dog expecting as much a kick as a bone. In short, he behaved exactly the way a common peasant should in the presence of a more powerful noble, knowing he was defenseless in the face of any of the noble's whims. "Did you really fight in a war?"

Shinji stared back darkly. "I don't have a reason to lie. Even if I'm useless right now."

"Shut up. Stop whining. I won't have a familiar that's useless... there must be something you can do."

'_Getting angry yet?_' Asuka's voice drifted through the breeze. '_If you're sticking around with this arrogant bitch, don't blame anyone but yourself. Don't go moaning about it to anyone._'

"I sort of lack the tools for that. I don't know how to kill human-sized enemies."

Louise paused. "You said -kill-."

"Um."

She opened and closed her fist again. He also has an aura of the unpertubable about him, a sort of indifference about all fear and pain that Louise tried to cultivate. "Saay. Do you think you can take on Kirche's familiar?"

"Louise-san, I don't think that's a good idea." '_If it can't fly, then crossbows. Lots of crossbows. Its neck is too thick, but stabbing works against most things. No beastie is all that terrible when it's blind_.' It was a different voice this time, with a gritty British accent to it.

"I'm not saying anything. So you were some sort of monster hunter, were you? Can you do it? It's smaller than what you say you fought. Even if you..." her voice trailed off. "Lost. All right, forget I said anything." Louise tended to react to tension with escalation, as proven by how she never backed down to any taunt. However, as he was trying to keep on her good side, Louise had very little incentive to distrust or alienate the only person in the castle that seemed to firmly be her ally. If one cannot trust one's own familiar, then who can you trust?

"Have you ever killed anyone, Louise-san?"

"What are you talking about? Of course not!"

"Sorry, but... trust me. It's not a good feeling. I don't like doing it, even against animals. It wouldn't be right against another familiar. Summoned creatures, are they smarter than regular animals?"

"Generally, yes."

That just added to the creepiness of the whole thing. Louise was setting off all manners of sociopathy alarms in his head, but since those same measures also tended to go off when examining himself, Shinji was oddly comfortable with being under the heel of a potential psycho. "Can we talk about something else instead?"

"Why don't you just shut up and do your job." Louise went over to the other end of the room to shove some tables into place. Ridiculous. Every word out of his mouth was so... outrageous. He was clearly delusional.

ị

ị

Meanwhile elsewhere in the academy, Mr. Colbert, the teacher that supervised the Spring Summoning, was running after a hunch. He had devoted twenty years of his life to Tristain Academy, and his bustling about was familiar to the school. For several nights now he had all but slept in the library, consumed again in a line of research. Now he was concerned about the runes of summoning that appeared on the boy's left hand. A -_human_- summoning should be impossible, but the summoning runes confirmed it was possible. His problem was that if it could be done once, then why can't the event happen a second time? Or a third? Of all the mages that summoned in the spring, there had to be some condition that made the impossible possible. It if happened to Louise in the present, then it should have happened before, he just had to dig deep for it.

The runes were very strange, but they were familiar to Colbert -_because_- they were rare runes. Old runes, in fact. It was one of his areas of expertise. The library held almost all the history since the creation of the new world in Halgekenia by the Founder Brimir, and in an old book about His familiars those same runes appeared. Mr. Colbert nearly lost control of his levitation in surprise. Clutching the book he hurried to the Headmaster's office.

ị

ị

Louise was sensible enough to recognize that the simplest, most likely explanation was that her familiar was lying. A commoner, trying to puff up his own importance through the most outrageous of tales. The knot in that was the lack of motivation. Why else would someone do that, and yet not try to lever his way into better treatment or living conditions? Her familiar was so listless, so lacking in initiative, but his eyes showed her the emptiness of someone who had lost everything.

Even if it was a lie, she wanted to believe. In a life spent straining uphill for any favorable recognition, it was soothing to her self-esteem if at least she managed to summon no ordinary commoner. Louise sneaked a look. He was still following a few steps behind her, hands in his pockets and subdued wonder in his gaze.

Outlandish as it may be, for a girl steeped in magical culture it still made more sense than flatly declaring a world completely devoid of magic. Giant creatures (though as big as the castle an obvious exaggerration) were always rumored in the wild, unexplored regions, and a society of monster-hunters seemed not only plausible, but reinforcing her belief in the superiority of mages and magic. She was wildly filling in her imagination the skeleton of a scenario as presented to her. If a lie, she wanted to see just how broad and detailed it could get, and there was fun enough in trying to poke holes into the story. In her school years marked by failure after failure after failure, it was the first truly interesting thing to happen to her.

Lunch was unremarkable. The meal for Shinji was the same as that of breakfast, which he ate with no complaint. Louise ate slowly. A side-effect of wanting to hear his story was that she had to think of him as a person. She could not pass some plates down, for that would be too rude, and she was starting to regret the obvious insult of having him eat off the floor. However, she could not simply have him take a seat either. It would be a serious breach of propriety. The seats on either side and in front of her were empty. No one was willing to sit with Louise the Zero, who though lacking in magical ability, the only sure pointer of the rights and powers of nobility, was still all too ready to talk smack back to her detractors. Her grip on her steak knife tightened. It would almost be worth the new round of vicious rumors. It was not as if anyone ever said anything good about her, anyway.

In the end, she ate with careful disinterest, as always trying to look unbothered by everything. She dimly heard a girlish giggle at the back of her mind, and a whisper '_So at the root, a coward too. What do -you- deserve?_'

ị

ị

The Headmaster of the school was Sir Osmond, an elderly mage with long white hair that covered all other distinguishing features of his face. Tristain Academy was the finest institute of magical education in Halgekenia, a finely functioning machine that had trained nobles in their culture for many, many generations. A side-effect of such a deep tradition was that the Academy fairly run itself. This left him very bored most days. Idly plucking out nose hairs, he slowly murmured "hrm" and pulled open a desk drawer. From inside he procured a smoking pipe. Miss Longueville, the secretary who had been writing something at the other desk placed to the side of the room, waved her feather quill.

The pipe floated into the air and landed in Miss Longueville's palm. Sir Osmond muttered dejectedly, "Is it fun taking away an old man's little pleasures? Miss, um..." Some days he pretended to senility, and some days he tended to forget he was just pretending.

"Managing your health is also part of my job, Old Osmond."

His secretary was beauty, with her hair pulled back into a proper bun, leaving two shanks to frame her calm and serious face. Thin square spectacles only added to the impression of an intelligent, competent assistant. Sir Osmond stood up from his chair and walked up to the cool and collected Miss Longueville. His back was bent with age and his magic staff tapped on the floor.

Stopping behind the seated lady, he closed his eyes, his expression grave. "If the days keep passing by so peacefully, figuring out how to spend the time I have left is going to become a rather big problem."

The wrinkles etched deeply on Osmond's face were only hints to the history of his life. People guessed him to be a hundred years old, even three hundred. But his true age no one really knew. It was possible even he no longer remembered either.

"Old Osmond," Miss Longueville spoke up without taking her eyes off the feather quill that was scribbling away on the parchment.

"What is it? Miss..."

For a woman with such an important job, she had very little respect for her employer, calling him 'Old Osmond' with nary a hint of mockery nor any gentle teasing. It was a more cutting that way. "Please stop saying you have nothing to do as an excuse to touch my bottom."

Sir Osmond opened his mouth slightly and began walking around in tottering steps.

"Please also refrain from pretending to be senile whenever a situation goes bad," Longueville added calmly. Sir Osmond sighed deeply. It was the sight of a man bearing the weight of many troubles.

"Where do you think the ultimate truth may be? Haven't you ever wondered that? Miss..."

"Wherever it is, I assure you, it's not underneath my skirt, so please stop sneaking your mouse under the desk." Miss Longueville was not a noble.

Sir Osmond's face fell, and he murmured sadly, "Mótsognir." From under Miss Longueville's desk scurried out a little mouse. It dashed up Osmond's leg and perched on his shoulder, twitching its tiny head. He fished out some nuts from a pocket and held one out to the mouse. "You're my only truly trustworthy friend, Mótsognir."

The mouse began nibbling on the nut. It disappeared quickly, and the mouse chittered "chuchu" once more.

"Ah, yes, yes. You want more? Very well, I shall give you more. But first, I would ask that you report back, Mótsognir." The mouse chittered unintellegibly again. "I see. White and plain white too, hrm. But Miss Longueville should really stick to black stockings. Wouldn't you agree, my cute Mótsognir?"

Miss Longueville's eyebrows twitched. "Old Osmond."

"What is it?"

"The next time you do that, I'm reporting it to the palace."

"Kah! Do you think I could be Headmaster of this Academy if I was scared of the palace all the time?" yelled angrily, his eyes bulging out, showing under his exceptionally bushy eyebrows. It was an impressive display, completely unexpected of a frail-looking old man. "Don't get all prissy just because I peeked at your underwear! At this rate, you'll never get married!" He shook his head and let huffed dramatically. "Oh, to be young again... these simple pleasures are the limit an old man can go. Have you no pity, Miss Longueville?"

Old Osmond began stroking Miss Longueville's bottom without hesitation. Miss Longueville stood up and without a word took out her wand. She bound an powerful, experienced mage and without hesitation began kicking him with her high-heeled shoes.

"Ow, ow, ooh! There, a little lower!" the old man cooed. "Ow! That pushed out a few old knots in the back."

His secretary let out an indisputably sexy growl and intensified her kicking. '_It's all just a game to you, is it?_' she wanted to scream. '_Would you dare to pull this sort of thing on a noble_.?' She paused momentarily. Probably. Nobles had an extensive but unwritten code of interactions and relationships, so a noblewoman probably just might accept it, feel flattered, and try to lever that into greater political influence. That wouldn't be as much fun.

Old Osmond covered his head and cowered. Miss Longueville breathed heavily as she continued kicking Osmond. Her leg fairly blurred.

"Ack! How can you! Treat a senior! In this way! Hey! Ouch!" Old Osmond groaned. He could not have reached such age and reknown without figure a permanent protective spell on his clothes at least. There were some who thought he anchored the material component of an Armor spell in his beard.

This "peaceful" moment was interrupted by a sudden intrusion. The door was thrown open with a slam, and Colbert rushed inside. "Sir Osmond!"

"What is it?"

Miss Longueville was back at her desk, sitting there as if nothing had happened. Sir Osmond had his arms behind him, staring out the window, and turned to face the visitor with a serious expression. Colbert blinked, unable to decide if the scene he saw upon entering was just an illusion. He shook his head and pushed on. "I-I-I have some big news!" he announced, out of breath.

"There is no such thing as big news. Everything is but a collection of small events."

"P-P-Please take a look at this!" Colbert handed Osmond the book he had been reading just before.

"This is "The Familiars of the Founder Brimir," is it not? Are you still going around digging up old literature like this? If you have time to do that, why don't you think up some better ways of collecting school fees from those slack nobles? Mister, err... What was it again?" Sir Osmond cocked his head.

"It's Colbert! You forgot?"

"Right, right. Now I remember. It's just that you talked so fast I never really caught it. So, Colby , what is it about this book?"

"Please take a look at this also!" Colbert then handed him the sketch of the runes on Shinji's left hand. He leaned closer to whisper its source.

The moment he saw that, Osmond's expression changed. "Uooogh!" His eyes took on a solemn light. "Miss Longueville, would you please excuse us?"

Miss Longueville, with calm poise, stood up and left the room. She glanced back suspiciously. Osmond spoke only after he confirmed she was properly outside.

"Explain this to me with every detail, Mister Colbert..."

ị

ị

Shinji had no reason to go off on his own. Louise was still trying to think of ways to get him to elaborate on his story, but realizing that if she pushed too quickly he would just clam up under the excuse that it was still too raw and emotionally painful. Maybe he needed to relax in her presence a bit.

She flexed her right hand again. Pain was not something she was unfamiliar with, due to her many 'accidents',

Had Louise been born in the era that Shinji came from, a world lacking magic, her aimless rage at having everything of value yet nothing of worth might have led her to dressing all in black and scoffing at the world in all its futile hurry. However, the pride of the nobility meant that Louise had to be poised and perfect as if always on display, and her frustration had a clear source and a clear avenue for expression. She had no choice but to shine, for a noble, a lady, clearly did NOT brood. Only weaklings wallowed in their own failures; she was allowed no such frivolity. A mage's magic was brought out straight from his or her willpower.

Shinji, for his part, was curious about Louise's disastrous magic. Even when he piloted the Evangelion, he had never really considered himself anything special. When he failed, it was clearly because he was -weak-, but no one had any choice but to depend upon him. His spine could break under the weight of those expectations. Louise was like himself, only turned inside-out. His invisible companion wanted to see it again, and rather than trying for some paltry magic tricks, she wanted to see if those accidental effects could be turned into new combat spells.

Unknown to either teens, they were being followed. Though it had just been a day, gossip about Louise the Zero and her strange familiar had already gone around the castle. Though there were doubts that her summon was really a human, her bringing him into the dining hall and taking him to class convinced most people that it really was just a commoner. Human summoning was unheard of, and as Louise herself had complained, because it was almost useless. A servant, at least that you can dismiss. A human familiar would have to stick to its master, it was a bond that lasted for a lifetime. Any advantages, such as being able to more effectively understand and follow orders, were more than overshadowed by the drawbacks in terms of support and housing or the lack of effective magical boost.

It was just so worthlessly redundant. It was ridiculous to the noble students. However, for the commoner staff, it was very clearly a form of slavery. Such a thing was the exact fear that plauged many a servant.

One of the maids walked down the same corridor, carrying a tray of small cream-filled cakes. For breakfast and lunch she had brought him his food, and those fleeting moments the young woman observed the newcomer. The boy looked so unmotivated. Her heart ached in sympathy. It was understandable, the nobles were difficult to deal with on an extended basis, but Louise had a bad reputation. She was barely a noble, in terms of magic, but in no way any less prone to self-entitlement than her peers. Her belittling of the lower classes was even more intense. It was that vehement bravado that ensured she had no allies in every rung of the social ladder. Not the commoners, who resented her; or the other students, who scorned her; nor even the teachers, who feared her ineptitude. Now someone was dragged against his will into that circle of madness.

The threat of magical compulsion was bad enough, but not until recently had that actually crystallized into an open display of mockery. Trying to watch from afar, it was the least she could do. She was ashamed, but much as she might want to just run up there and start bashing away with her metal tray, she was justly scared nearly out of her wits. Commoners had their peaceful lives only on the suffrance of the nobles with their magic.

They ended up in the main hall. "Get me some dessert." Louise commanded. "On second thought, make it two. Yes, I'm letting you have one- don't get used to it. Sweets are not for familiars." She smiled suddenly, remembering that he admitted to being younger. "You'll rot your teeth."

Shinji was reminded again that this was a magical world, though the varied and apparently natural hair colors made it difficult to forget in the first place. Did they have toothbrushes or was there some sort of magic dentistry? Commoners, non-magical folk, probably had their own preventative measures.

He looked around and his face brightened a bit at seeing the approaching maid. Siesta eep'ed and cowered slightly behind her tray as he approached. Facing each other, the height difference became clear. "Um, hello? Miss? Excuse me?"

"Y-yes? Can I help you?"

"Are you here to present dessert to these... nobles? If you allow me to serve my..." Shinji frowned a bit. "Mistress first, afterwards, I'd like to help out. If you don't mind."

"You're the familia-... the person, that Mistress Vallière summoned, aren't you?"

"Yes. I'm Ikari Shinji... uh, Shinji's my first name. May I know yours?"

"It's Siesta." She smiled gently. "If you really want to help, then I'm grateful." Inwardly she frowned. Why had he approached her? What did he really want? As a familiar of a noble, specially one known for her ill temper, the maid had no choice but to comply. Her authority as a mage rubbed off on him.

'_Smooth. Since when the hell were you this smooth, baka?_'

'_I actually have no idea_.' Still, it made him uncomfortable to walk ahead of Siesta, over to where Louise waited. Serving felt more natural than being served. Or was it that he wanted a bit of time away from Louise?

"Louise-san, this is Siesta-san." Shinji reached for one of the cakes and a small silver spoon. "Here's your cake by the way. Please enjoy."

"Why are you introducing me to this maid?" Louise asked cooly. Siesta was starting to subtly shake in place. Being noticed by a noble tended not to end well, at the very least it meant an increase in her workload.

"Oh, no reason really. If you'll permit, mistress, I'd like to help around the castle a bit. You don't really need me right now, do you?"

"I forbid it. A familiar's place is beside her master!"

"Information gathering, Louise-san." Shinji added with a smile. He bowed with his palms together. "Please?"

Louise huffed and crossed her arms. "Fine. And don't think I haven't noticed you're using the same honorific for her as for me."

"Referring to someone without a honorific implies intimacy, Louise-san, and the choice of suffixes depends on the situation and location and... can I just explain this later?"

Louise blinked. Suddenly, she realized, that though he was her familiar, he was still a human. A person with a brain, a will of his own, and thus also his own agenda. You could trust an animal to really only be concerned with food and amusing itself, but the mystery around her weird familiar... his thoughts and wants still eluded her. '_Just what are you planning?_' thought Louise.

'_What are you planning to do to me?_' Siesta thought. She could have accepted his offer to help as just a kind whim, but did he have to introduce her to Louise? What was it all about, really?

Shinji continued to smile softly. He was just being polite according to his upbringing. The very least a master must do is to know his servant's name. Even waiters or fast food servers had name tags for that reason. Helping out, being useful in something harmless, it was a nice change of pace.

He bowed to both young women and accepted the tray. He then began to walk around the hall, carrying the tray while Siesta picked up the cakes with tongs and served them one by one to the nobles. Many easily recognized as Louise's familiar, his clothes and the odd self-satisfied smile gave that way. The two left behind confused nobles staring suspiciously down at their own dessert.

ị

ị

Among the many noble students was a tall mage with curly blonde hair and a frilly-edged shirt. He stood among other students, who in their own way were as resentful of his presence as Louise about to cast as spell. He was just too damn -pretty- to be a man, and his expression was fixed in that self-important sneer. There was a rose in his chest pocket which he idly fondled now and then.

"So, Guiche! Who're you going out with now?" asked his friends. "Who's your lover, Guiche?"

The mage gently put a finger to his lips. "'Go out?' I hold no one woman in such special regard. After all, a rose blooms for the pleasure of many."

All of this happened with Shinji and Siesta nearby. They noticed the scene, and ignored it. Such vanity was expected out of nobility, and neither gave a damn about what the nobles did in their spare time. Guiche twirled about, letting his cape flap around. He pulled out the rose with the oddly long stem from his chest pocket which looked nowhere near deep enough for that. Unfortunately, while doing so, something else followed, falling from the pocket and kicked away as he twirled in place.

It was a small glass vial, which rolled across the floor until it hit Siesta's shoe. '_Huh?_' "It's perfume." she said, holding up to the light. She turned to Shinji.

Still holding the tray, he motioned with his head. "It came from over there."

The maid looked at the vial in her hands, and to the group of young nobles. With his frills and effeminacy, it seemed quite obvious who had that perfume. She had no choice but to return it. Shinji smiled a bit, trying to look supportive. "Pardon me, sirs... but one of you, did someone drop this?"

Guiche turned, looked at the young woman, and seeing her maid garb, seemingly -through- her. His eyes were glazed with disinterest, until he saw the perfume phial. His look tightened, then he turned away.

"Well it has to be one of you." Shinji added. "It came from this direction."

"You must be mistaken." Guiche replied offhand.

"Then I guess we'll have to ask you one by one whose this is, and then move on to other people in this hall." It was clear from everyone's faces that its owner could only be him. Guiche looked panicked. He needed to get rid of it, and get these two servants to stop asking around before someone gets asked the wrong question.

"Regardless, I have no need of it." He smiled charmingly. "Perhaps, even a wildflower such as you can have your allure magnificed by such a scent. How could I have overlooked such a beauty? Take that perfume as a sign of my esteem and get out of here and don't mention this to anyone."

One of Guiche's friends snickered. "Putting the moves on a commoner now, Guiche? Have you no standards at all?"

"Hmf. The rose whose beauty brightens the world does not discriminate whose lives it makes more wondrous. It does make a choice who gets to pick and keep it." He turned back to the two servants. "What are you still standing around here for? You've been granted a touch of luxury. Be grateful."

Both bowed. "T-thank you." Siesta replied, blushing, but also faintly grimacing. "We won't bother you any more, sirs." They hurried off. Some distance away, she turned to Shinji and asked "What do you think should I do with this? I don't really want it..."

"What, don't you like that sort of guy?"

Siesta blanched.

"Very sensible of you, Siesta-san." Shinji frowned at the vial in her hand, then towards the far end of the hall. "I think maybe we should ask for some advice." Luise was both a noble and a young woman, and so far Shinji has had little reason to doubt her judgement when it came to the finer, more expensive things in life.

ị

"So, are you saying that Guiche never really admitted that the perfume was his?"

Siesta and Shinji looked at each other. "No." they said together.

Louise pouted and held out her hand. "Give it to me." She then took off the stopper and took a sniff. Recognition showed in her eyes. She looked up at the two servants, waiting for her verdict. Shinji still carried the tray of cakes. "What you should do with it..." Louise held out the vial. "Well, I think you should wear it."

"Eeh?"

"I don't know what Guiche is up to, but he might check if you did anything with his 'gift'. You could sell it, I suppose, but that sounds rather rude. Get some use out of it first." She turned to Shinji. "Hey, you. How long are you going to keep on leaving your master alone like this?"

The boy looked narrowly at Louise. He blinked, and his expression evened out. "Huh? Oh. Not long now. This is a valuable learning experience. I mean, could this event have been triggered if I didn't help out?" He turned to Siesta. "Shall we?"

The maid still looked worried. Very reluctantly, she splashed some of the scented liquid onto her palm and daubed at the sides of her neck. She smiled weakly as she stoppered up and put the vial into her pocket. "O-okay. Let's get this over with."

ị

A second-year noble girl with long blonde hair styled in long drill curls suddenly paused. She turned away from chatting with her friends and stared at the passing pair of servants. "That can't be.."

She quickly stalked over to the maid, and grabbed at her shoulder. Siesta was pulled around, and she let out a frightened squeak at being so close to yet another noble, the third time in less than an hour she attracted unwanted attention. She wanted to cry about her bad luck.

The blonde noble held the maid in place with both hands on the shoulders and leaned close, seemingly for a kiss. Shinji leaned forward on his heels. The noblewoman sniffed and then her lovely face twisted into a snarl. "I was right." She roughly let go and pointed. "You! How dare you! How can a commoner like you have that scent that is reserved only for me, Montmorency the Fragrance?"

"W-what? I'm sorry-."

"I asked you a question!"

Siesta whimpered. She pulled out the perfume vial from earlier. "If this is yours, I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to..."

Montmorency quickly snatched up the phial and took in the scent. "Do you know why I'm called Montmorency the Fragrance? It's because I create my own perfumes, and this is a scent that I made. How could you have this? You stole it, didn't you? You filthy thief!" She shoved the maid, who stumbled back onto Shinji, who dropped the tray of cakes.

The boy let out an 'aww' of dismay. He had yet to taste any of those delicious-looking cakes.

"No, no no no..." Siesta was openly crying now. .

"I'll see to it that you get punished for this insult. You'll never work in Tristain again!"

"Stop right there." Shinji stepped between the two women and snatched the perfume vial out of Monmorency's hand. "Siesta-san is no thief. It was given to her freely. Whether or not you made the scent is of no consequence. It ceased to be yours when you let go of it."

"More of you peasants? Impossible. This is -my- scent. No one would ever dare insult my by giving it to a commoner. No, the simple answer is that she stole it! You, you're an accomplice! I'll see to it that both of you are flogged for this!"

"Why is this happening to me...?" Siesta whimpered.

"Hey, you there! Montmorency the Flood! What do you think you're doing?"

"It's 'the Fragrance', you ignorant twi... oh, it's you, Louise. You ignorant twit."

"I heard that you used to wet the bed like a flood, didn't you? 'The Flood' suits you better!" she retorted, once again escalating the round of insults as the opening move. "Whatever, you've got no business threatening -my- familiar."

"Your fami... oh. Yes, I had heard Louise the Zero failed again, just getting a commoner in her summoning. Hah! I'd expected better manners even from Louise the Zero. You're protecting thieves now?"

"We're not thieves. We have plenty of witnesses whose 'noble' reputations are above reproach. Someone DID just hand over your precious, unique scent." Shinji coughed. "Perhaps, even a wildflower such as you can have your allure magnificed by such a scent. How could I have overlooked such a beauty? Take that perfume as a sign of my esteem." It was eerie. He had duplicated Guiche's voice perfectly. "So stuff it, forehead girl."

Louise chortled. "Forehead girl! That's nice." Montmorency's hairstyle did pull her hair back, and while the curls looked regal, they also emphasized the emptiness between her brow and hairline. "Yeah, that's right. It's only happened just now."

"You-you lie! My beloved Guiche would never... on a filthy commoner!"

"Perhaps." The boy rubbed at the bridge of his nose, as if pushing up orange sunglasses that weren't there. His voice grew noticeably louder "It sounds as if Guiche wanted to get rid of a vial of perfume given to him by Montmorency before it could implicate him for something else." The words carried through the hall, drawing everyone's notice.

"Hey, we saw that." one of Guiche's friends all-too-gleefully piped up. "That vivid purple color, that's only something Montmorency fixes for herself, right? For that to fall out of your pocket, then that means Montmorency is the one you're going out with, right?"

"Wa-what are you saying? Listen, I'm saying this for the sake of her reputation, but..."

A loud sob came from the table behind them. One of the girls, a cute one with chestnut-colored hair stood up. By the color of the cloak she wore, she was a first-year student.

"Guiche..." she murmured while approaching the other table, and began crying uncontrollably upon stopping. "I knew it, you and Miss Montmorency are..."

"They're misunderstanding. Katie, listen. The only person I hold in my heart is you..."

But the girl called Katie slapped Guiche's face as hard as she could. "That perfume you dropped from your pocket is more than enough proof! Goodbye!"

Guiche rubbed his cheek.

Over at the other end of the hall, Montmorency stood statue-still, her fists clenched. Louise sneered triumphantly. "Oh you gave it to Guiche after all." She walked over to the troubled young nobleman and began to drag him towards Montmorency. "Hey, stop struggling! Are you going to deny that Montmorency gave your her private scent?"

Guiche sweated. He could not so baldly lie about it, specially when Montmorency was looking. Katie was already a lost cause, so... "Montmorency. This is a misunderstanding. All I did was accompany her on a long trip to the forests of La Rochelle..." Guiche said, shaking his head.

"Just as I thought! You've been making moves on that first year, haven't you?"

"Please, Montmorency the Fragrance. Don't twist your rose-like face in anger like that. It saddens me to see it!"

Montmorency looked around frantically, grabbed the empty tray that Shinji was still holding, and smacked Guiche flat in the face with it. Guiche fell flat on his back. "You liar!" She yelled and stormed off. She looked back at Louise and her commoner accomplices. Such a humiliation she'd suffered. '_This isn't over, Louise the Zero_.'

An indreculous silence fell upon the hall. Shinji whispered aside "You knew this might happen, didn't you, Louise-san?"

The pink-haired girl flushed. "What are you talking about." At his disappointed look, Louise felt her resistance drain "and even if so, you knew too. Why didn't you say anything?"

Shinji bowed to Seista. "I'm sorry, Siesta-san. But I wanted to see nobles in the raw, if they really had the good manners and poise of breeding that they took such pride in. I'm sorry for dragging you into this, I'll make up for it somehow."

"N-no. That's all right." She'd be happier if he never spoke to her again.

Guiche pulled out a handkerchief and slowly wiped his face. Discreetly he rubbed out a trickle of blood from his nose. Shaking his head, he spoke dramatically. "It would seem those ladies do not understand the meaning of a rose's existence."

"A rose gets its petals pulled apart, it withers, and it dies." Shinji whispered. "Seriously, trying to model one's life after something so... fragile. How silly." Legions of slaves in him gave their affirmation. He had no sympathy for pointless indiscretions.

Guiche looked up. These three people orchestrated his downfall. Louise the Zero. Some maid he did not know. And that strange commoner familiar. He dismissed the two women. Guiche stood up, and brandished his rose at Shinji. His every move exuded arrogance. It was starting to give the boy a headache. "Thanks to your thoughtless words, the reputation of two ladies has been damaged. How will you take responsibility?"

Shinji stepped forward, and punched Guiche straight in the face. "Four ladies, you asshole. That's for dragging us into your stupid little games, you two-timing bastard."

The young noble spun around, stumbling backwards until he crashed into a table, sliding across and throwing out chairs on the other. Girls shrieked.

Inside his head, Shinji screamed. _'What the hell was that? What? That's wasn't what I wanted to do. I didn't..._' He stared at his fist in disbelief. '_Why did you make me do that?_'

'_Oh come on. You hate people like that. Besides, I was getting bored just watching you have fun. __**I**__ want to have fun. I __**want**__ to see you __**suffer**_.' replied Asuka, appearing behind him and stroking his cheek.

Shinji snarled. '_All right, that's it. Everybody back in the hole. BACK IN THE HOLE, NOW!_'

'_You're not much good with improvisation outside of combat_.' Gendo Ikari remarked while slowly sinking into the empty darkness. '_You will need us again_.'

_'You can't make me go in there. How else can you be sure you're really suffering?'_

_'Back. In. The. Hole.'_

Meanwhile Guiche staggered back to his feet. He shoved aside attempts by other students to help. He rubbed at his jaw and still seemed in shock. Did a commoner just now really dare lay hands (or rather fist) on a noble? Did it really happen? He looked up, and Shinji's distant expression seemed dismissive and arrogant. "You! You need a lesson in RESPECT. I, Guiche de Gramont challenge you, whoever the hell you are, to a duel!"

Shinji blinked. "What?"

"H-hey! Duels are forbidden!" Louise exclaimed, stepping to beside her familiar.

"Only between nobles. Not between nobles and commoners." someone put in. The looks of the other noble students, most of them were amused, but some were guardedly hostile. While many of them did not not really -like- Guiche's playboy conceit, he was still a noble. A commoner should never get away with such an affront.

"I, Shinji Ikari, familiar of Louise.. uh, Francoise de la... deli... familiar of Louise, accept your challenge." It was not like he had any choice in the matter.

Behind him, Siesta covered her face with her hands. Everything was going wrong so fast.

"Good." Guiche replied, rubbing at the edge of his lips. "I won't taint this hall with the blood of a commoner. At sundown, come to Vestri Court." Scraping up his dignity, he put his nose into the air and sniffed his rose.

ị

ị

Louise pulled her familiar out of the hall and into a corner. The two sat crouched facing each other, whispering. "What the hell do you think you're doing? Are you stupid? You can't just challenge a noble like that. You'll die!"

Shinji cringed. "I'm sorry, but I just... I couldn't help it. I wasn't thinking. I didn't mean to punch him in the face, but..." He paused and chuckled while looking at his feet. "I can't say now that I really regret doing it."

Louise laughed. "He is annoying that way, isn't he?" Her tone softened. "But what are you going to do now?"

"I don't know! How do duels work?"

"Usually until someone yields. It's rarely to the death, but that's with magic. It's actually been outlawed for nobles to duel each other these days, the damage gets too much out of hand. I have no idea how it's supposed to be between a noble and a commoner. That's not supposed to happen!"

"I suppose I could just yield, then."

"I don't think he's going to let you off that easy. Guiche is a weakling, but his father's still a general. He can't let you get away with humiliation that public." It would have been bad enough with exposing his two-timing ways, but striking a noble was something very, very serious. "You know, it's because you're my -familiar- that he can't just have someone else punish you. Guiche will probably order you to do something shameful and besides, losing reflects badly on me, your master."

Shinji nodded. "I can't fight him with my bare hands though. Do you happen to have some weapons or armor, Louise-san?"

"I could try to transmute some-" her expression fell "No, wait, can you even use a sword? If you wound, or even kill a noble, I don't know what will happen! I can't do anything. This is bad. You idiot familiar!"

"Sorry."

"Wait, that's it! Guiche challenged you, a commoner and my familiar, and you don't have magic. Maybe, we have it that you have to fight his familiar instead to make it fair!"

"That's a really good idea, Louise-san. As to be expected from my beautiful and intelligent master." Shinji beamed. "If it works, then it should be much easier than dealing with a mage. Do you know what his familiar is like?"

Louise looked away. "I-it's just a giant mole. Don't get too excited."

"A giant mole?"

"You know, big, thick hide, sharp claws, burrows underground."

Shinji sighed and rubbed at his face. "Oh, this bites." He looked up. "That just leaves the matter of at least a weapon. Could you make one of those explosive pebbles for me to throw?"

"No!" Louise retorted, red-faced. "Be serious about this! I'll find something. What do you know to use? A sword? A spear? A bow"

Shinji thought back to his fights. An antimatter cannon was just far too much to ask. "I don't think I'll be much good with a long weapon. I'd be much more comfortable with a big knife, maybe two, and some smaller knives for throwing."

Loud feminine laughter erupted from behind the two. Both teens jerked out of the huddle in surprise and turned to see Kirche and her familiar, Flame. "Well, you two certainly look suspicious. I thought it might be a pre-battle tyrst, but it looks like you're actually taking this seriously. What a surpring change of behaviour, from Louise the Zero."

"Shut up. Go away."

"Are you sure? I AM here to offer my help from the kindness of my heart." Kirche smirked. "Or you could try conjuring those weapons yourself. Or what, you're going to steal them off the display pieces?"

"Excuse me..."

Louise grit her teeth. No one else would help her,evenif she asked. In fact, they would likely lord it over her for a long time that she had to beg for help for something so simple as that. The difference with Kirche... there was no difference, really. "You can take that help and shove it up your-"

"Excuse me!"

Everyone turned to see Siesta standing nearby, who eep'ed under their scrutiny. "I.. I apologize for interrupting, but if it's knives that you need, there are plenty in the kitchen. They may not be as good as magic knives, but..." she wrung her hands in embarrassed misery. She still had to help, somehow. "They're there!"

Shinji nodded and got up. "That sounds good. At least with a real knife, I'm sure to know where it's balanced. If I take one of the duller knives, that's less dangerous."

Louise did not look convinced. She glared at Siesta. The maid was the lynchpin for whole mess anyway. Kirche, who was not there for the show, coughed into her fist. "I can guarantee that my transfigured knives will be sharper and stronger than any mere common knife. You're going to need every possible edge you can get."

Shinji looked to Louise. "Well, Louise-san? It's either the kitchen or Kirche."

Louise huffed. "You, let's go." she pointed at Siesta.

Shinji bowed to the taller, well-endowed mage before followed. "Thank you, but using some other mage's weapons might count as intereference or cheating."

"Your loss." Kirche replied, disinteredly turning away. Flame breathed out a small plume of flame, before likewise turning snootily from the other familiar. However, once the three troubled teens were some distance away, Kirche looked back and smiled. It's been a while since Louise looked so lively and deeply interested in life around her. Though her flirtatious flame might be thought badly of others, she knew that a person'sinner fire, if left to turn inwards and unexpressed, could only sear its holder. Having known Louise since she made that self-important declaration at the start of their school year, and utterly failing to live up to it, it was nice to see her nemesis getting something for her enthusiasm for a change.

ị

ị

Activity halted as the three teens entered the kitchen just behind the Alvii Dining Hall. Shinji noticed that the cooks' uniforms were the same as in his world; white shirts and aprons with tall hats for the chefs. The head chef was a burly man with a thin pointed moustache. He diligently completed his taste-test of the soup stock first before asking "Siesta? What is this about?" '_Why are you bringing a noble here?_'

"My deepest apologies, Mister Marteau, but we need your help." Hurriedly she explained the matter. As she repeated the events leading up to the duel, she found it difficult not to smile. It seemed quite frightening at the time, but in retrospect - it was exciting. She remembered his words '_**Four**__ ladies, you asshole_'. Though he had brought her into the mess, he did get her out, and the duel was partly for her honor. Even a commoner had her pride and her sense of duty.

"Ugh, this dirty place. Do I really have to be here?" Louise put a hand to her nose. Although the smells of the kitchen were otherwise pleasant, she was repulsed by the sight of fish being gutted and pig legs hanging in hooks for turning into ham. "Ugh, I don't know if I can eat again, knowing what goes into my food."

"Don't say that, Louise-san. Cooking has a magic all its own. Ingredients don't turn into fine meals by themselves, you know. Even if somehow mages can conjure food, I highly doubt it will ever be as good as the real thing."

Marteau glanced at Shinji, who looked fondly at the all the bits and pieces of foodstuff spread through the kitchen. He went over and in a booming voice said "My dears! It's such an honor to have you here. And you must the one who will fight a duel, hmm?"

Shinji nodded. "I'm sorry to be a bother, sir. But I do need a weapon, and what I know are knives."

"My knives are instruments of creation, my dear boy, if I let you have them, you must never ever bring them back here. And, how do you mean you know knives?" the chef asked suspiciously. Knives could be used for work, as a butcher, cook, fisherman, hunter or even a lumberjack, or to kill- a knife was a tool, easily hidden and explained away, unlike an assassin's dagger.

"I know how to cook a fair bit." Shinji replied. "That's mostly how the feel of a knife is familiar to me." Prog blades, being the size of a small house, just may not count. It wasn't lying, technically.

It did seem to please Marteau, though. "Oh, never mind then." He clapped his hands. "Come along, everyone. Let's see what we can spare." Siesta was right. The kitchen, since it had to feed so many students, had A LOT of knives. Knives designed to cut through bone, knives thin enough and sharp enough to be scalpels for delicate decorative work, and knives long enough to almost be considered swords. Even Louise looked impressed at the arsenal so cunningly hidden in plain view and so insistently ignored by everyone.

ị

ị

Mister Colbert was fervently explaining everything to Sir Osmond about the commoner boy that was summoned by Louise at the Springtime Familiar Summoning, and the runes appearing on the boy's hand as proof of the contract between him and Louise. They had sparked his curiosity, and he went out to find out more.

"And in searching, you reached the Founder Brimir's familiar, Gandálfr?" Osmond intently examined Colbert's sketch of the runes on Shinji's left hand.

"Yes! The runes that appeared on that boy's left hand are exactly the same as the runes that were inscribed on the legendary familiar Gandálfr!"

"And, this means?"

"That boy is Gandálfr! If this isn't big news, then what is?" Colbert wiped his balding head with a handkerchief. "Things like this don't just happen randomly. There must be a reason such runes appeared again."

"Hrm... Certainly, the runes are the same. But for an ordinary commoner boy to become Gandálfr just by having the same runes... that's assuming far too much. It's probably too early to be making definite claims."

Colbert sighed. "That's true."

There was a knock on the door. "Who is it?" the Headmaster asked.

From behind the door came Miss Longueville's voice. "It's me, Old Osmond." She did not even bother to open the door, respecting the privacy as earlier ordered.

"Oh, what is it?"

"It seems there are some students dueling at Vestri Courts. It's causing quite a commotion. A few teachers have gone there to try and stop it, but their attempts are being impeded by the sheer number of students."

Sir Osmond groaned. "For heaven's sake, there's nothing worse than nobles with too much free time in their hands. So, who is involved?"

"One of them is Guiche de Gramont."

"Ah, that idiot son of Gramont. Skirt-chasing must run in the family, considering his father's even more of a womanizer. I wouldn't be surprised if the boy knows every girl in school. And his opponent is?"

"...Well, it's not a mage. I've been told it's Miss Vallière's familiar."

Osmond and Colbert exchanged a look.

"The teachers are requesting to use the "Bell of Sleep" to stop the duel."

Osmond's eyes glinted like a hawk's. "Ridiculous. There's no need to use such an important artifact just to stop a children's fight. Leave them be."

"Understood."

Miss Longueville's footsteps disappeared down the hallway.

Colbert swallowed audibly. "A duel? Between a mage and a commoner?"

"Hrm." Sir Osmond opened up a drawer on his desk and brought out a large crystal ball. He placed it on his desk. "This might be a bit improper, but this sounds like a good chance to find out if that commoner is really the Legendary Gandálfr, don't you think?"

ị

ị

Rumor quickly spread through the school. Vestri Court was the central garden situated between the Wind and Fire elemental towers. Being located to the west, the Court didn't receive much sunshine, even in the middle of the day, but it was the perfect place for a duel.

"A duel! A duel!" A pack of the first-year boys went running out into the courtyard. The sun was already low in the sky, and Guiche waited out in the clearing. He looked cool and collected, though his cheek still felt sightly numb. Magic was useful, with its healing spells.

The place was starting to get packed with students. Among them was Kirche, and with her a shorter blue-haired girl carrying a book. "Sheesh, why aren't the teachers doing anything about this? I thought duels were forbidden."

"Only between nobles." her companion replied evenly. "Commoners are fine."

Kirche bit her lower lip. "Louise... you stubborn fool."

A hubbub began to rise from the crowd. They parted to allow Louise and her familiar to enter the dueling place. Louise looked stoically forward, her steps precise as if marching, while Shinji slouched as if sleepy. The kitchen staff had fixed up for him a crude bandoleer, and several small knives were set into a belt of leather crossing his chest. Two large butcher knives hung on hooks over his thighs. Following behind them and some distance away, Siesta hoped to be overlooked.

One of the third-year students shouted. "Ladies and gentlemen! Today we have a duel! Guiche is going to duel! His opponent is Louise's commoner!"

A ragged cheer rose from the crowd. Guiche spun in place, accepting it all. He stopped and only just then seemed to notice that his opponent had arrived. "I commend you for coming here instead of running away." he remarked, smirking, in a sing-song voice while he twirled his rose close to his lips.

"Hey, you!" Louise pointed at Guiche. "You challenged a commoner, but he's my familiar first! Challenging my familiar is like challenging -me-. Send out your own familiar instead!"

Guiche scoffed. "Who would waste their time even challenging -you-?" He looked at Shinji and his multitude of stabbing implements. "No way am I letting my lovely Verthandi close to such a hooligan! You monsters! You're trying to murder my lovely Verthandi, I won't allow it!"

"Well, there goes plan A." Shinji muttered.

"That's not fair!" Louise shouted angrily.

"He should have thought of that before butting into the affairs of his betters." Guiche replied. "Move away from the battlefield, Louise the Zero. Your familiar or not, even a pale flower such as you has no business interfering in a duel between men."

'_Oh, myself!_' Asuka's voice resounded in Shinji's head. '_This guy is just begging to get his ass kicked. Grind him into dust, baka_.'

Pouting, Louise moved away to give them room to fight. All eyes looked intently at the two, and Siesta put her hands over her mouth in horrified anticipation.

"Right, then. Let us begin." Guiche pointed his rose in Shinji's direction.

Shinji Ikari was not a soldier. His fighting instincts was not geared like that of normal people. Now that he no longer feared being hurt, a lot of the things that made him look like a coward evaporated in the desolation of time. The instincts that remained told him in no uncertain terms that he should tower over all other living creatures, that his stride should shake the Earth, and that he should hurry to destroy his enemy. A more rational part explained that given Guiche's pretty-boy looks, he should not have much endurance or pain tolerance. A quick and painful hit should end it quickly with minimal harm to both sides.

Guiche watched Shinji approach with a leisurely smile and flicked his rose. A petal floated down as if dancing in the air... and in a flash of yellow light transformed into a female-armored warrior. Its height was about the same as a person's, but it appeared to be constructed from some hard metal. Under the pale sunlight, its golden armor gleamed.

Shinji did not slow down. Only the fact that it was vaguely woman-shaped that made it in any way intimidating to him. Smoothly he plucked out one of the smaller knives and threw. It was as if he had been throwing such things all his life, an expected but still surprising sensation. The Valkyrie moved its arm, deflecting the knife. Its new angle missed Guiche's head by a hair, cutting over several blonde locks as it passed just over his ear.

Horrified, Guiche touched the side of his head. "You! You just tried to -_kill_- me! No mercy, then! Valkyrie, attack!"

The runes in Shinji's left hand blazed. He felt light as air. The approaching enemy seemed to move in slow motion. Suddenly his body seemed to want to do six different things at once, there was this powerful urge to leap and slash, while in the forefront of his consciousness he decided to duck the blow and head straight for Guiche.

This just ended up with him stumbling on his run and freezing in place. His world exploded in pain as the golem punched him in the gut. The young teen flew into the air and crashed rolling some distance away.

"Guiche!" Luise yelled, pushing her way out of the crowd.

"I am a mage, therefore I fight using magic. Surely you have no complaints?" he said, kissing his rose, whose stem served as his wand.

"Wh-why you..." What could knives do against that?

"I guess I forgot to mention earlier. My Runic name is "the Bronze." Guiche the Bronze. Accordingly, my bronze golem "Valkyrie" shall be your real opponent." he told Shinji, who was slowly trying to get back to his feet. "This is the price for not recognizing a noble's power."

Shinji groaned and clutched at his stomach. He tasted blood at the back of his throat. He felt like laughing, if only his diaphragm could unclench a little. "It's... it's not over yet."

"I'd be most disappointed if it were." the noble replied cooly.

Shinji took and brandished his large knives. The weight felt loose in his hands, a good feeling. Though pain left hazed up his vision, he forced himself to take a step. And then another. It got easier. Soon he was running again.

The Valkyrie charged, its fist held straight out. Shinji easily bent aside and his knives left a trail of sparks down the length of its arm. Memories of fighting an implacable, unrelenting enemies, the Angels, surfaced to lend easy familiarity to his motions. His bones screamed, but he managed to stab into the joints and get up to the golem's back. His options opened up and again-

Pain! He froze in place and was hit by a flailing arm. He slammed into the ground, and dug the knife-points into the ground to bleed away his momentum. Dirt and pebbles raked at the skin of his forearms, leaving a ragged bleeding line. Ironic, perhaps, as that too was the only visible damage he could do against the bronze golem.

Shaking, he woozily got back to his feet. '_What's happening to me?_'

"You... Shinji!" Louise screamed. "Stop it. You understand now, right? A commoner can't beat a mage!" She turned to Guiche. "He's learned his lesson. I'm his master, I say he yields."

Guiche smirked. "How nice of you to say so, Louise the Zero, but I'm going to have to hear it with his own words."

Shinji stared at the glowing runes on his left hand. He was a failure in so many ways, but... he should not be so -weak-. Pain was nothing. He had no reason to hesitate. Why then, was his body refusing to respond just when he had the chance to push for the advantage? '_Is it magic? Is it a curse?_'

He looked up at Guiche, and the bronze golem still standing to protect its creator. It might as well be a wall. '_You can go over a wall, or under it, or through it. What's your problem? Just pick a tactic and roll with it! And that goddamn golem, where the hell does the extra mass come from?_ a red-haired girl yelled.

He screamed wordlessly and then held his breath. He stamped his right foot and was off again, leading with his chin and the two knives held straight back. He kicked at the bronze shin of an approaching golem kick, and used that to run up its torso and again onto its back. Bringing his arms forward sharply, he threw both cleavers. The two knives spun in the air, lending them a smooth arcing trajectory to meet from either side of Guiche.

'_Crap_.' thought Shinji. '_This move is fatal when it hits_.' Maybe Guiche would move so it would just cut of a leg or an arm or something? Every instinct in his own body led to a killing stroke; the more his pulse increased with excitement, the harder was it to suppress.

Guiche nonchalantly released two more petals from his flower-wand, which turned into two more bronze golems that blocked both spinning cleavers. Shinji felt a hand grip around his left ankle. The golem he was standing on had its head turned completely around, and light flared from behind the empty eyeholes of its helmet. '_Double crap_.'

The golem picked him up and threw him into the ground like a sack of grain. He screamed again, though now in overwhelming pain.

'_I'm an idiot!' _he screamed to himself. _'Why the hell do I even WANT this?_'

'_Then stop the hurting! Stop screwing around! What is wrong with you?'_

Shinji coughed up blood and curled to try and get up. However, a kick by one of the golems in the hollow formed by his body sent him flying again. He heard someone cry his name, in anguish, it was a girl's voice. Or voices. He barely felt it when he hit the ground again. He felt cold... so cold.

ị

ị

"That looks painful." Sir Osmond said evenly. He sighed and stroked his long white beard. "Mister Colbert, I don't think that boy is Gandálfr after all. It must be just a coincidence."

"Yes, I agree. Gandálfr was said to be able to use any weapon to take down its enemies..." the teacher murmured. "So it must have at least an arm and a hand, I think."

"And that's what led you to think a human summoning was somehow the legendary familiar? Clearly this is not the case."

"Sir Osmond, now that we've satisfied our curiosity, shouldn't we stop this?"

The old mage shook his head. "We at Tristain teach children to live as nobles. Sometimes we must stand aside to let them learn the meaning of honor for themselves." Though a noble himself, he had very little regard for the intelligence or fortitude of other nobles. "I just hope they learn it very quickly."

ị

ị

"What are you doing?" Louise screamed frantically, held back by Kirche from running into the battle zone. "Just stay down, you idiot! You stupid familiar! Even a dog knows to obey its master when it's hurt!"

"What's this? I didn't think you could stand up again..." said Guiche. He was starting to feel bad about how much damage his Valkyries were inflicting, but his honor and pride as a noble demanded that he keep going until the opponent either yields or proves unable to continue the duel. "Maybe I went too easy on you?"

Shinji smirked. "Shut up. I've faced worse things than your little statues." One more time. '_Stop betraying me_.' He removed three fruit knives and held them with the hilt inserted in the spaces between his knuckles. '_Simpler now, okay? I'm just going to run. Let's keep running. Nothing complicated, nothing to think about_.' He circled around the three golems, which tried to position themselves to cut off his lines of approach.

He flicked one of the knives out, and it flew into one of the Valkyrie's eye-slits. The golem did not show any pain, the cutting implement just bounced around inside its head to no ill effect. He continued running. Seeing a gap forming as the golems moved, he threw another knife, this time towards Guiche. The closest Valkyrie moved with surprising speed to intercept it.

Shinji slowed down and let his hammering pulse settle. The golems could move faster than he could ever run. After all, he was made of flesh and blood and fatigue. They had magic sustaining their existence. He looked down at the knife in his hand. It had a blade only abot five inches long. What was he supposed to do with such a thing against such creatures?

He dug deep inside himself for an answer. '_Come on. Someone. Anyone. What should I do?_'

'Surrender' was an option. 'Kill yourself.' was another. A variation on the latter was to fake defeat, to get Guiche to de-summon his golems and give him a chance to strike. It was dishonorable, and to make it worth it that single change had to be a fatal finisher. He rejected that and many other cold-blooded plans. It was just so easy to murder... but he didn't want to kill. He wanted to win!

'_Is that pride? Is that ego? Is that why you're fighting?_' Mocking female laughter echoed in his skull. '_Go see how far that takes you!_'

While distracted for a second, the three Valkyries moved, surrounding Shinji. They closed in, and Guiche smirked. "This is getting more pointless the longer it lasts."

"Idiot! Do you really think just having this power makes you better? An inflated sense of self-importance doesn't make anything right!" He was the very personification of that lesson. The folly of man playing at being God. "Try to get me to learn respect, fine, but I'll make sure you don't run from the consequences of your mistakes!" It was his own, new personal creed. He can never run away. Never again. He may not close his eyes.

Shinji stabbed at his right hand, at the glowing green runes there. The glow blazed, then turned red. "Raaagh!" He caught one of the fists heading for his face, and felt his shoulders pop right out of their sockets. Rather than keep on getting pushed, he slid under the arm and in a variation of an aikido throw, sent that golem off to collide with another Valkyrie. The onlookers gasped.

"How did he do that?" murmured Kirche. All that rage, so clear on the unimpressive-looking young teen's face. That stubborn desire to just keep on going no matter how much he's hurt... she smiled, as a strange shiver passed through her body. '_That's not a dog, Louise. Starving, half-mad, maybe... but that's a wolf. You'd best be careful_.'

Unfortunately, this left one last golem. Its right hand lashed out and caught his cheek. He spun around in the air and slammed face-up into the ground. He coughed up blood, and it fell back spattering his face and dirt-stained white shirt. Before he could move again a broze boot was at his face. "Gnngh." he struggled as it pressed down.

"Stop it! Stop it, Guiche!" he heard as if from a great distance.

He pulled out the knife still stuck in his hand and stabbed it into the golem's ankle. '_Come on. Come on_. he roared inside his head. '_I don't want to die. I don't deserve to die_.'

The runes on his left arm glowed, and the blade slid effortlessly into and through the bronze foot. The glow subsided, and a great beast seemed to growl. Shinji punched, and broke the foot right off its joint. "That... that did it."

It served to throw the Valkyrie off-balance and its entire weight fell upon Shinji. "Oh. Shit."

And then there was just darkness.

ị

Siesta screamed. For a while there, she had believed that someone could really stand up to the nobles. Even when he failed, it was still so brave. She was not strong, getting weapons was the meager help that she could offer. And yet... while someone else bled, dying in front of her eyes, was that really the most she could do?

She wanted to blame Louise for her malicious advice, but she was raised to believe that ill manners from nobles was as much a fact of life as a dog licking its own balls. '_That person out there, he's fighting for something he believes in_.' she thought in despair. '_It's my fault he's like this. I have.. I have to do something._'

Sieta saw Louise still being restrained by Kirche, though the mage was also screaming for the battle to stop. She looked around her, all the nobles near her were intent on watching the spectacle. Some of them looked disgusted, but no one moved to make it stop. No one was holding her back.

Siesta wiped tears from her eyes and pushed nobles out of her way. She ran out into the clearing until she faced Guiche, who looked puzzled at the sudden interruption. There, she collapsed to her knees and placed her forehead to the ground. "Sir Gramont, I beg of you, please. I may be just a commoner, but please listen to me. Please have mercy. I'll do anything you ask, please just forgive him. Have mercy!"

Guiche sighed and lowered his rose. He bent down to one knee and tipped Siesta's face up. "A gentleman feels shame at a lady's tears. Now that I look at you closer, you are a delicate flower too... these tears don't become you." He smiled gently and stood up. "You don't need to offer yourself, I would love to stop this. But it's out of my hands," He looked back to where his opponent clutched at the dirt, shakily trying to force his way up. "Just stay down, Brimir damn you!"

ị

ị

Shinji floated on an orange sea. He held his hand up towards a distant sun, broken into many glittering shards upon the surface of the waters. Then, he felt something grab at his arms and legs, his neck and his waist, countless hands dragging him down into the depths. He screamed, and the waters ate his voice.

ị

ị

'_Gently now, gently_.' Guiche tried to communicate to his golems. The commoner did not look as if he could take much more. '_I don't want to kill anyone... just keep on pushing him down until he doesn't want to stand up anymore_.'

Shinji wobbled back to his feet, unable to stand in place he stumbled about as if drunk. One of the Valkyries moved to push him over, but he just bent aside that obvious lunge. The other golems moved, and like liquid the familiar dodged every one of those attacks at the last moment. FInally, one of the golems punched and caught him at the small of his back. It was like punching a glob of jelly. Shinji flew again, but rolled upon landing and unfolded back into his unsteady stance. His eyes were still unfocused, he was completely unharmed by that attack.

"Drunk? No... he's barely conscious." Guiche remarked. He kissed his rose again. "Go, my golems! Finish this now!"

The Valkyries moved at the the same time, but somehow in his unthinking, clumsy state the familiar just flowed around their attacks to let the golems just hit each other. A loud brass clang resounded as two Valkyries caught each other's face in a cross-counter punch.

"Enough! Go back to full power!" Guiche commanded. Siesta, still kneeling by his feet, looked on in horror.

The Valkyries' movement sped up suddenly, and once again at the critical moment, Shinji seemed to freeze in place. He blinked, his consciousness returning, only to see a bronze fist heading for his face. He raised his left arm to block, and there was the sound of snapping bones. He was once more thrown off his stance and slammed, sliding, into the ground.

Louise screamed. She broke free of Kirche's grip by stamping down on the taller young woman's foot and rushed to her familiar's side.

"I've long lost whatever enjoyment I can take from this." Guiche sighed. "Louise, concede for your familiar and this ends."

Louise sniffled as she stared down at the bruised, bleeding face of the one person in the castle who seemed to believe in her. "You idiot... why are you doing this? Just stay down."

Shinji raised a shaking finger and touched the tear tracks on her cheek. He tried to smile. "Didn't you say losing reflects badly on you? There... there has to be a way to win this. Give me enough time and I'll figure it out. Don't worry... I won't die."

"You idiot! Don't stay stupid things like that!" She looked back to Guiche. "He's had enough! Okay, I, Louise, decide that my familiar yi-"

Shinji's grip had unexpected strength as he grabbed her wrist. "No." he whispered. "I ran away when everything went tumbling down. I can't run away anymore. I... refuse!"

"And I don't care!" Louise spat back. "I don't want to see you get hurt anymore. Guiche!"

The young noble sighed again. "I suppose. This is just pointless. It was already over before it started. I, Guiche de Gramont accept you surr-"

"Guiche!"

He turned around. "Hmm? Oh, Montmorency."

"It's not just the commoner that insulted m-... you, you know. It can't end that simply. You're the victor, so what's your penalty for Louise?"

Guiche looked at Louise's distinctly childish figure. "Hm... but I really don't want anything from Louise."

"Then at least have Louise the Zero say her surrender properly." Montmorency sneered. "Apologize, Louise! Admit you're a failure as a magician. Even your familiar is a failure, he proves it!"

Shinji pulled weakly at her wrist. "No... don't..."

Louise grit her teeth. For a familiar? Should her pride as a Vallière forever be broken just for that? She looked at her familiar, who kept on shaking his head, pleading with his eyes not to give up. All her life, Louise held to her pride, it was the only thing she truly owned, a Vallière was made of stronger stuff- her eldest sister drilled that into her head. Louise was rightfully scared of her eldest sister, who was so strong and so severe... and if she was doing it, then there had to be something to what she was saying, right? Louise could never really muster any defense. She was a Vallière. She -_must never_- admit defeat.

The girl put both hands over her eyes and screamed wordlessly. She shivered.

"I am Louise..." she muttered. "I am Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière..." and slightly louder. "I am Louise the Ze-"

"You.. you're all IDIOTS! LOUISE-SAMA IS NOT A ZERO!" Shinji yelled suddenly. "That's because she managed to summon ME! And I won't be destroyed, not like this, not from something this easy! I WON'T RUN AWAY!"

"No!" Louise screamed, as the Valkyries picked up Shinji.

"You're still going on about that? What is the source of your bravado?" Guiche asked. "You're powerless and refuse to admit it. Is it worth your life just to be this spiteful? That's not courage. That, instead, IS idiocy."

Shinji chuckled, with blood dripping from the side of his mouth. Born from a world half-dead, for him honor was not something that could feed the multitude. It was not something that you can escape. "It's still not enough... this is nothing. I've had worse than this. You nobles... you have no idea. A thousand million slaves are crying out, this isn't right. You don't know what power is."

Guiche gestured, and one of the Valkyries pulled up Shinji's right arm. "Was it this hand that dared strike me? Is this the hand that lets you think you have any chance at all against a mage? For thousands of years, this world that the great Founder Brimir gave to use turned on the balance of mages and commoners, and it's our duty to maintain this balance. You poor fool. It's so sad to see the damage that happens when someone doesn't know his place. Let me cure you of your sad ignorance."

"Put him down, Guiche!"

Guiche raised his left eyebrow. "Oh, Louise, Louise." He shook his head, chiding. "Are you actually raising your wand at me? Not only is it a violation of rules of the duel, what do you think you can do?"

"Don't you dare, Louise the Zero!" Montmorency raised her own wand and pointed it at Louise. "Don't interfere!"

Kirche looked around, and then sighed, the motion bobbing her breasts. "I can't believe I'm doing this, for a Vallière of all people." She raised her wand. "Put it down, Montmorency the Fragrance."

The blue-haired girl next to Louise did not even look up from her book. She raised and planted her staff into the ground, as if daring anyone to raise a wand against her friend.

Siesta looked at Shinji, still held aloft with his body held out in a T-shape, as if crucified, and grimaced. She looked around and saw one of the butcher knives nearby, just a few steps away. No one was looking at her. No one cared.

Shinji wanted to slap his own face, except that the Valkyries restrained him well. '_This is getting stupid. Aaugh, these nobles. Can't they just leave well enough alone?_'

ị

ị

Back at the Headmaster's Office, Mr. Colbert rubbed at his balding head and remarked "This is getting well out of hand." Watching students maim each other through a crystal ball was not a line of research he wanted to pursue. "We can't let this continue, Sir Osmond!"

"Hmm. You are correct." replied the Headmaster. He prepared to intone the incantation for the Bell of Sleep. As Headmaster of the Academy, he did not need to go through certain requisite rituals and red tape.

ị

ị

Siesta moved. The sudden act caused someone to yell "Hey!", which caused Montmorency to fire off her spell at Louise, though missing utterly. This shocked Kirche into sending off a fireball, which also missed Montmorency, but sending the boys behind her tumbling in the blast. Louise yelped and cast her spell, which predictably set off a rather large explosion. Fortunately it was some distance away, but it knocked Siesta off the her feet and just as well preventing her the knife. The golems, sensing danger to their master, moved.

"Louise!" Shinji screamed.

The girl coughed and looked up just in time to see a Valkyrie plow out of the curtain of smoke with its hand outstretched. She closed her eyes and cowered, waiting for the pain. She was struck and fell.

There was a squishing noise and she felt something wet and warm splash on her cheek. She opened her eyes and saw only red.

Shinji had knocked her down and on his hands and knees covered her with his body. His white shirt was soaked, and blood from his lips trickled down to her face. Five bronze fingertips protruded from his chest.

And still he tried to smile. "... are you okay?"

Louise screeched. "Me? What about you?" She reached out, and her fingers hovered under the wound. "That... that's enough. No! Don't die on me...! Guiche! We've had enough!" Louise grabbed Shinji's face. "Pull yourself together. Okay? It's going to be fine. We'll get you to a healer. It's okay... don't think of anything else right now. This duel doesn't matter. DON'T DIE!"

Shinji laughed, causing his wounds to bleed more. "Louise-sama. Finally you show that you do deserve to be called a noble." Something unimaginably old growled behind his eyes. "Dry your tears. I told you before... I won't die."

He pushed away from the ground and back to his feet. his mouth open in a wordless pained shout. The fingers into his back dug in further. Sharply, the familiar turned around, and the bronze golem's hand was torn off from the wrist.

He struggled for breath, his feet were shaking, and he snarled up at the bronze Valkyrie impassively staring down on him. '_This... this freaking hurts_.'

A red-haired girl in a red plugshit paced around him. '_You pervert. You can try to eat up all the pain that you like. But She will never let you die_.' Asuka pressed her forehead to his. '_For a short while, we release you from your bonds. We open up the Pit. Drink from the Well of Souls, Last Child of Man, and let this world hear our voice. Until your enemies are broken, we will sing the song of Absolute Terror_.'

Louise's miscast spell kicked up a large cloud of dust. Almost everyone was blown off their feet, and they coughed as they tried to get up. The sun was low in the sky, and all was stained red. Shadows stretched across Vestri Court.

Deep within the shrouded battlefield a great beast roared. The glow from red eyes pierced the gloom, and a shadowy figure walked out of the dust cloud. An unfamiliar smile was on Shinji Ikari's face. The irises of his eyes, normally a wan brown, burned as if an opening into a merciless furnace. '_It is a good pain_.'

A bronze golem burst out and punched. The thin, blood-soaked boy caught its fist. His eyes blazed even brighter, and he pulled. The Valkyrie's arm was crushed right to the shoulder. "Is that it?" he shouted to its emotionless face. "It's still not enough!" With his other hand he punched into its neck, and tore its torso open from neck to abdomen. "Just an empty shell." he added, somewhat mournfully. "Something like you can never truly beat me."

The bronze golem dropped to the ground, broken and useless. Shinji Ikari looked around. A strong wind carried away the obscuring dust. "Louise-sama." Then toward Guiche, and a fallen woman beyond him. "Siesta-san." The hellish glow in his eyes faded a bit.

The two remaining Valkyries attacked from behind. Shinji quirked his head, as if listening to something. "What... what is this? What are you saying? The first movement in the Suite of Terror?"

'_You can say the Music of Creation. You can say the Mathematics of Creation. At these levels, they're pretty much the same thing anyway. Oh, and think fast_.' The runes on Shinji's hands glowed bright again. He leapt aside and the two golems crashed into each other.

"Ugh." He clutched at his chest. His vision was starting to narrow.

'_Don't over-stress yourself. We had to grow you a second heart in a hurry. Magic is -loud-. This thing, forcibly grafted into your soul, it's trying to flood your body with magic and make you act like you're some sort of acrobat or something. It's got a whole set of instincts all its own.'_

_'What, is that like some sort of mind control or something?'_

_'Maybe. It's kinda useless trying to mind-control -you- anyway. This thing is still trying to have you go all-out. It's trying to get your body to flood endorphins.'_

_'So it's not just magic, but drug-based mind control._' He felt light on his feet, though whether from blood loss or natural pain blockers it was hard to tell. He wanted to fight, though. He looked to Louise. A familiar was conditioned to respond with glee to protecting its master?

The two bronze golems approached. Shinji exhaled and stood his ground. "Defense. Think only of defense." he whispered to himself. "Override your instincts, Ikari. You're not going to die."

He ducked one blow and swept his arm out. That bronze Valkyrie was torn to pieces as if clawed by a massive beast. The other golem kicked. Shinji Ikari blocked that kick with his face. The golem's leg exploded. It fell. He screamed and leapt, driving it hard into the ground. With a foot at its neck, he grasped the crown of the golem's helmet and ripped its head out of his body.

He looked up at sky and opened his mouth, what came out was no human roar.

Shinji heaved, gasping for breath. He stared at the head in his hands. Automaton. Empty. Bloodless. Unsatisfying. He threw it aside. "Guiche de Gramont..." he said hoarsely. "You like to play with human hearts. What fear lurks inside yours?"

"No, this is impossible. Shit. Shit. Shit." the young nobleman no longer cared for appearances as he flicked his rose wand again and again, creating more golems. Eight was the most he could make.

"Ngh." Shinji grimaced in pain with every step. Five golems all zoomed towards him, their feet barely touching the ground. They had weapons now, the lead Valkyrie had a lance. "More." he whispered desperately. "MORE!"

The lance-carrying Valkyrie struck at him, and the point of its lance was stopped and held by a flickering red hexagonal barrier in front of the wounded boy. Shinji looked frightened right out of his wits. "No, not this again! Not-..." His eyes burned red. The tips of his hair were losing color. His skin, already pale from blood loss, began to thin out even further.

Shinji pushed, and the barrier vanished. The Valkyrie was thrown high into the air, until it struck halfway up the central tower of Tristain Academy. A cloud of masonry dust marked where it hit, and the crumpled golem fell into a further mangled ruin into the paved plaza on the other side of Vestri Court.

"What... what was that?" Luise breathed. The other students murmured similar sentiment. Was it magic? There were no incantations, or a magical device such as a wand or staff.

The familiar runes in Shinji's left hand kept flickering, and the glow in his eyes faded. He gasped for air. There was no escaping his shame. A thousand million mothers cried out. "Magic, huh? Wealth? Authority? Is that all? Power over others? What's that if you can't even control yourself... ? The only thing that's truly yours is your soul! Show me its power!"

"Don't underestimate me!" Guiche shouted, gesturing sharply down with his rose. The Gramont line was an old one, filled with warriors and generals.

Shinji shoved out with both palms and two of the Valkyries were knocked out of the circle. They were held in the air by red hexagons on a plane. The boy brought his palms together, and the two golems swung to meet each other at high speed, flattening out.

The other two wound their path into a tight circle and slammed each into wide red barriers on either side of Shinji Ikari. Their battered away at it with their weapons, a word and an axe, each hit creating a rippling effect out to where the edges of the barrier looked the most solid red before fading into nothing. Shinji shook his head. "This... is the light of my soul. Magic, physical force, it's meaningless. The only way through is if your soul is stronger than mine." He turned his gaze over to Guiche, who seemed frozen in fear. "Just how much do you want to win?" Warriors through time stared at death and laughed. For death was a coward. "More! Hahaha...! Sacrifice... more!" The boy was losing blood. He was hungry. "Sell your soul for power!"

The young nobleman screamed incoherently.

Shinji dropped his barries and caught the golems' weapons with his bare hands. Blood trickled down his palms. '_All right. Show me what's behind your intrusion_'. The Gandalfr runes blazed green. Shinji pulled out the axe from the Valkryie's grasp, spun it around and slashed around in a circle. The two golems fell apart at the waist.

He collapsed to his knees. His small second heart beat frantically, trying to compensate for the pierced primary organ. '_This hurts this hurts this hurts_.' He looked up. Guiche was shaking in place. Shinji stood up and wearily began to walk. His steps faltered now and then, weak and bloody, he looked utterly a non-threat.

Guiche screamed and stumbled back. He began to crawl, not taking his eyes off the familiar... the thing... with the eyes of a devil. "Wa-what are you? Stay away!" he waved with his rose.

Shinji paused and chuckled darkly. "That's... a good question." He sighed and looked up at the darkening sky, at the two moons. "I am... no one." There was a momentary flicker, almost imperceivable, as if the light from the sun was interrupted. He chuckled bitterly. "But for now, I am the familiar of this... Louise."

The Gandalfr runes flashed. One moment he was still a good distance away, and in another he was at Guiche's face. He grabbed the young noble by the jaw and pulled him up with unnatural strength. "Was it this mouth? This mouth that disrespected my master? Was it this mouth that led those girls to cry?"

"Guiche!" Montmorency screamed.

Shinji looked at her for a moment, and she yelped in fear. His look softened, upon considering Guiche again. "I see. You're afraid. You're afraid of so many things... you don't want your soul to be tied down." A low growl came out his throat. "You're not a total loss, de Gramont. Not yet. No, you -still- don't know your place. But you're looking for it. I hope you find it."

He let go, and the noble crashed to the ground. "Don't hurt me!" he whimpered.

"Agh-apologize. Then yield."

"I... I, Guiche de Gramont, beg your forgiveness." He bowed low, putting his forehead to the ground.

"Not to me. To the ladies you wronged." Shinji pointed. "And to my master."

"Louise! Forgive me!" And following Shinji's finger, he turned around to see Siesta. "You, uh... maid whose name I don't know!"

"It.. it's Siesta, Sir Gramont."

"Siesta! I'm sorry. Please forgive me!"

"It... it's all right."

"And Montmorency! And Katie! I was wrong to try and go out with the both of you at the same time!"

Shinji blinked. He wanted to laugh. '_I got thrown around and bloodied just for this foolishness? So much pain for this romantic stupidity? I don't even believe in romance anymore! Hahaha... is this enough irony? These annoying nobles...!_' "Do you yield?"

Guiche cast his gaze down. "I yield."

Shinji's breathing was starting to slow down. He closed his eyes. "Get out of here." he hoarsely ordered. Guiche scrambled to his feet and all but plowed through the onlookers in trying to get away.

"Whoa... what is that familiar? Did he use magic?" the crowd of students began to loudly mutter amongst themselves. "No way, Guiche lost?" and "How can he still be standing after all that? Shouldn't he be dead?"

He turned to see Siesta still nearby, half lying down on the grass. "Siesta-san." he greeted weakly. She cringed, her eyes full of fear. A golem's hand was still stuck through his chest. His expression fell. "I understand." he whispered gently. "It's... it's fine."

His vision was starting to haze out. The pounding noise of his pulse in his ears was starting to fade. From the corner of his vision, he could see Louise running towards him. He was too weak to turn his head. He smiled. "Hey, Louise..." he said, his voice trailing off. "...I won."

His knees buckled, and he fell onto Siesta's arms. His blood stained her white apron.

"Shinjiii!" Louise's voice was so very far away.

'_That'll do, baka. That'll do._'

ị

ị

The two teachers stared blankly at the crystal ball, even as the studently slowly dispersed. Someone cast a spell of Levitation on Shinji, and some of the teachers finally arrived. The familiar was taken to the castle's own infirmary. Sir Osmond waved his hand over the crystal ball and leaned back on his chair. "This is a disturbing development." he muttered.

"Was that magic?" asked Colbert. "I know familiars should have some special abilities... salamanders breathe fire, some dragons can breathe ice, bugbears have a paralyzing beam, but what is that?" Surely someone as old and experienced as Old Osmond would know.

The old mage shook his head. "I don't know." It was totally unprecedented to his breadth of experience. "Remind me again about Gandálfr."

"The familiar used by the Founder Brimir, Gandálfr! There was never any description of its appearance, but it's said to have been created specifically for the purpose of protecting the Founder Brimir during his spell incantations."Mr. Colbert said excitedly. "It could annihilate an army of one thousand all by itself! Ordinary mages were said to be no match for it!"

"Mmhmm. Correct. Founder Brimir's incantations were especially long..." Sir Osmond remembered. It was a basic rule of magic. "However, that made his spells very powerful. And as you know, mages are most vulnerable while spell casting. Gandálfr was the familiar that he used to protect himself in those times of vulnerability."

"That red thing, it's a .. um... barrier of some sort. It fits, for what better way is there to protect a mage while speaking an incantation than to put a shield between him and the enemy? If using a weapon, then it can attack... but not so effectively block so many different attackers from all directions."

"But that is not how it is written, Gandálfr's abilities. You said so earlier."

"It's puzzling." Mr. Colbert had to admit. "But I'm sure of it, those are Gandálfr's runes."

"Is that boy really a commoner? Such... ferocity! Such power. It's like a beast. Can a mage summon another mage? You were supposed to supervise the Summoning Ritual for the second years, weren't you?"

Mr. Colbert shook his head. "I made sure, casting Detect Magic when Valliere initially summoned him. He was a perfectly normal commoner back then, no magic at all."

"This raises an interesting question. If that was magic that he did, was it done on his own or is it a pre-cast spell? Who cast that spell? How can he use it?" Old Osmond tugged at his beard. "If it is not magic, then what is it? This Vallière, she must be a very talented mage, I take it?"

"Not at all. Rather, one might say she's un-talented..." Colbert answered sheepishly.

"So on one end, we have a boy who seems to have no magic, and on the other end a mage with little talent. Where they meet, there is the legendary Gandálfr. What a paradox."

"Sir Osmond. We should report this to the palace immediately and ask for instructions..."

The old mage sniffed. "That will not be necessary."

"Guiche is only a first level Dot mage, but even so, he shouldn't have been beaten by any commoner. And THAT... I have no idea what that was, but it scared me even from over here. That's no ordinary commoner. There's no doubt that he's Gandálfr!"

"And that is why we must not speak hastily, not until we are sure."

"But sir! This is the biggest discovery of the century! A Gandálfr reborn in the modern world!"

"But is it really Gandálfr? In any case, such terrible power, if we hand over this familiar and its master to those fools at the palace, there's no good that can come out of it. Give them a toy like this and they'll just cause another unnecessary war. Court advisors have too much free time on their hands and like fighting far too much."

"I see. I apologize for overlooking such important matters." Abashed, Colbert rubbed at his bald pate again. "But what should we do, Sir Osmond?"

"First, it should be that our little point of curiosity doesn't die, don't you think? Although, seeing just how injured he was, he should have died rather than continue fighting. I've seen wonders and impossibilities through my life, but not such a deep determination to do battle no matter what." He could think of several magics that allowed it, but all of them forbidden, and it was unlikely that a child as Vallière would know them. "And, perhaps we should have a... talk.. with Miss Vallière, at her earliest convenience." He turned on his chair towards Colbert. "I will take responsibility of this case myself. You will not speak of this to anyone else, Mister Colbert."

"I understand."

Sir Osmond took hold of his staff and turned to look out the window. He immersed his thoughts in the far reaches of history. "Founder Brimir... Gandálfr..." he whispered to himself. "Oh, the end to my peaceful days..." It was what he wished for, but it was still sad. Times of great change were often also times of great pain.

ị

ị

The entire school was in a hubbub. Noble students wrote regular letters to their parents and friends, and it was difficult to hide just how Guiche was humiliated. The young noble hid in his quarters, avoiding all attempts of taunting or sympathy. The only one he allowed was Montmorency, for some reason. Gossip, though quick, was unreliable. With Mr. Colbert's silence, the nature of the Gandálfr was kept from popular discourse. All that people knew was that Louise the Zero seemed to have summoned a surprisingly powerful familiar, who was at the brink of death. What else could be expected from challenging a noble? It must have been just luck or something.

Lord de Gramont, Guiche's father, also did not care much. His son's reputation was not his own. He knew that his son's reliance on golems would come back to bite him someday. It was nicely balanced for defense and offense, a good golem could rout hordes of soldiers, but it did have its vulnerabilities. A familiar that's fast or could attack from unexpected angles could give a golem trouble. Dragons, for example, were difficult to deal with. It was a valuable learning experience, he supposed. He put it out of his mind as a pretty noble miss crossed his field of vision.

Likewise, Louise was difficult to approach. She attended classes, but brushed off any and all attempts at conversation. No one again called her 'Louise the Zero' to her face. It was what she wanted, but the girl found that attention hollow and unpleasant. They were just trying to expose whatever special secrets she had, until they were no longer special at all. She rubbed at her eyes as she stalked back to her room.

"Oh! Mistress Louise."

"Siesta." Louise said tonelessly.

"My apologies." the maid bowed and moved aside from the doorway. She carried with her a basin of warm water and damp washcloth. Louise narrowed her eyes at that. Nobles usually didn't care how servants helped to keep them clean. However, it was Siesta who utterly shamelessly was giving Shinji Ikari sponge baths while he slept and while conveniently Louise was unavailable due to classes. "There's been no change, I'm sad to say."

Louise nodded, not trusting herself to speak. She strode into the room while the maid went back to her other duties. She stared down at her familiar, sleeping so peacefully. With his clothes torn in combat, he was dressed now in plain commoner clothes in the current style, all in white. Most of his body was still wrapped in bandages. These, the clothes and his thin-blooded paleness combined with the sunlight streaming through the window seemed to give him an angelic glow.

She sat on her desk, dangling her legs over its edge, and laced her fingers together. With her elbows on her knees, she leaned with the arch of her hands just under her nose. Her rose-tinted eyes glinted orange in the shadowed portions of her room. "You stupid familiar..." she whispered pleadingly. "Wake up, already."

ị

ị

Shinji opened his eyes. The light flooding the room was at a low angle, and since he knew that Louise's room faced the sun, it was early morning. He felt incredibly thirsty. Weakly, he got up to a sitting position and clutched at his head. His spine burned, and his whole body felt heavy. He fell back down to the bed. Louise's bed, he recognized now. He saw the bandages on his arms, and the memories returned.

'_Welcome back to the land of the living, baka Shinji_.' he felt a pat on his back. '_Congratulations. You get to suffer a little bit more before you're allowed to rest_.'

Shinji reached around and touched that hand. '_Thank you_.'

The moment was broken by the sound of the door opening. A feminine gasp made him look up. Siesta was there, carrying a tray with a bowl of water and half of a French loaf. She was clad in fresh maid uniform and smiled warmly at Shinji. The apron stained by his blood, she had kept that. Magic made it too easy to forget, erasing all the signs of a commoner's struggle.

"So you're awake now? How do you feel?"

Shinji touched his chest. He felt the beating of his single, perfectly unremarkable human heart. "I'm... fine?"

"It's amazing..." Siesta said, her eyes wide. "The mage who cast the healing spell wasn't sure if even it would be enough. I'm..." she stopped wiped some tears from her eyes. "I'm so happy you're all right, Sir Ikari."

"Yeah... I... no, I'm not a sir. My name is Shinji, Siesta-san."

"You can call me Siesta. I'm just a commoner, after all." The maid placed her tray on the dresser then went over to sit on the bed near him.

"But, that's..."

"Siesta." she said firmly.

"Oh, okay, Siesta." Shinji took a deep breath. "What happened?"

She smiled. She remembered; referring to someone without a honorific implied intimacy. The sight of a teary-eyed noble on his knees apologizing to her, it frightened her just how so deeply thrilling it remained in her memory. "After all that happened, Miss Vallière had to get a teacher to cast a spell of healing on you too. It was quite serious. One was not enough, and it had to be reinforced by another Triangle-class mage."

"Spell of healing?" Shinji opened and closed his hands. "You mentioned that before."

"Yes. It's magic to help treat injuries or illness. You didn't know?"

"No... we don't have that where I came from." Magic and his physical body, he could feel it inside him, the two still did not get along. He could not be sure just how much was due to the influence of magic, or his own natural abilities. Bone was whole again, blood was replenished, torn flesh covered up neatly. He shook his head. If this was the healing that these people expected, then there was justifiable cause to be proud of having magic. "Just how much can a Spell of Healing fix?" Words like _'cancer'_, _'tuberculosis'_, _'diabetes'_, and _'malaria' _drifted across his mind, but she would likely not recognize any of those words. "Can it... um... cure consumption? A wasting disease? Open wounds?"

Siesta nodded, somewhat confused about his ignorance of some of the basic terminology. However, he did say, he wasn't from neaby. That little nugget explained a little of his mystery, about why he was so faithful to Louise, yet so disdainful of other nobles.

"Don't worry, Miss Vallière paid for the reagent that was required for the healing spell." The teachers could have given it for free, the Academy's apothecaries were well-stocked, but it was also punishment for going into a duel in the first place. Just because it was between a noble and commoner, was no reason to flaunt the rules. Clearly, Louise had to see, duels were far more trouble than they were worth.

The low tone that Siesta said that, it hinted to Shinji that it must have cost a lot. "I see. She did that?" He tried to get up and winced in pain.

"Ah, you shouldn't move! Your injuries were so severe even the healing spells couldn't completely fix them! You still need to take it easy!" Siesta worriedly cried out. She reached over to help steady him, and then stopped, flinching just before her fingers touched his body.

"Siesta-san..."

"I'm sorry..." the young woman said, looking up fiercely. "I'm... I'm not afraid. I just don't want to hurt you. Please let me help."

Shinji nodded and she helped bring him to a straighter sitting position. Siesta held onto him a bit longer, her fingers digging uncomfortably into his flesh, and she let go. She stood up and gave him some space. "Um. Would you like to eat?"

"Water." Shinji asked hoarsely. The water in the bowl was for wiping, but Siesta nodded. Gently she helped him bring it to his lips. Shinji greedily drank it down. Siesta took a cloth to wipe the dribbling from his chin. "How long was I out?"

"Three days and nights straight. Everyone was worried you wouldn't wake up."

'_And so on the fourth day_...' He stared down at his left hand. The bandages were a very faint green. The Gandalfr runes were still active. "Everyone?"

"All the kitchen staff..." Siesta cast her eyes down shyly.

"Please, convey my thanks. I couldn't have done it without their help."

"That... that's not true. We weren't of much help." She put her hands together and worriedly wrung them. "I'm sorry. It's because of me... you were hurt. If only I could have just accepted the punishment for wearing a noble's scent, this could all have been avoided."

Shinji shook his head and as firmly as he could, said "It's nothing to apologize about. It wasn't your fault."

"Nobles were always so scary to us commoners, since we couldn't use magic..." Siesta continued to mumble while looking down. "Seeing you fight, it was scary too, but... you sounded so -certain-. I wish I could believe that strongly... in anything. " She looked up. "You won against a noble. I guess, you're not a commoner after all? Please, can I... can I still be your friend?"

Shinji chuckled slightly, and winced again as the sharp jolt of pain to the underside of his stomach. "Siesta-sa... Siesta, if there's one thing I can be absolutely sure of, I'm not a noble. I wasn't a noble where I came from, and I'm not a noble here. I don't believe in people who think they have the right to other people's lives just because they feel they're born with that power." He thought of a mask with seven eyes.

Siesta's eyes glitterred. "Thank you, Shinji." She resisted the urge to pat him on the head, like a puppy or something. He was still shorter than her, and looking so small and embarrassed, she felt like hugging all the hurt out of him.

The boy tried to stretch out, forcing his muscles to obey even through the pain. "Did you tend to me all this time?"

"Some of it, but mostly it was actually Miss Vallière..."

"Louise-sama?"

Siesta nodded. "She changed your bandages and kept watch to wipe sweat from your face. As soon as her classes are finished, she comes straight here." Siesta looked aside, and following her glance, Louise was actually sleeping over at the desk. She was seated on the chair and used her arms as pillows. Her doll-like face was marred by heavy dark circles under her eyes. "Poor girl, I don't think she got to sleep at all, with the worry. It was only last night that we were told your body was mostly healed, and that you were out of danger."

"Hm. I guess I was right after all. She does have a kind side." Shinji nodded, satisfied. "Shouldn't she be in class or something?"

"It's the Day of Void. There are no classes today."

"Oh, so it's like Sunday in my land. In that case... hey, master, rise and shine."

Louise's breathing was slow and even. Louise's eyes flickered open. "Fuaaaaaaaaah~~!" She made a great big yawning stretch, like a cat in midsummer. She opened her eyes and blinked in surprise. "Oh, you're up." she said to Shinji.

The boy smiled. He had sensed she was awake for quite some time, just pretending to sleep so she could listen into his conversation with Siesta. "Hello, Louise-sama. I'm sorry to have been a bother. Are you getting any more trouble from Guiche or any of your classmates?"

Her expression twisted in anger. She stomped over to the bed and began pounding on his injured chest with her fists. "You stupid... stupid... stupid familiar!"

"Mistress Louise!" Siesta tried to pull her away.

Louise's pounding slackened off, until she just pressed her head into his bandaged chest. The bandages grew damp. "Stupid... letting yourself get hurt for something so stupid... don't do something like that again. Don't make me worry like that again. I don't care what they say."

Shinji hesitated, and then put his hand on her head. "I'm sorry, Louise-sama. I'll try to be less troublesome in the future."

The pink-haired girl's sniffling slackened off. She looked up, a pouty and insistent expression on her face. "We need to talk." Louise said darkly. "You've been lying to me, _**servant**_."

Shinji gulped.

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After Siesta had left, who for a commoner and maid was presumptously insistent that Shinji at least eat a little under her watchful eye, it was time for the interrogation. Louise paced back and forth in front of the bed, and then pointed with her arm held straight out. "_J'accuse!_ Are you a commoner or a noble? How long were you planning to laugh at me under this charade?"

"Charade? I wasn't laughing at you at all, Louise-sama. I had, at least, hoped for a mostly uneventful term of service."

"You liar! You made me believe you were nothing special, and then - THAT! What the heck was that?" Louise was beaming. "So you're actually, what, really powerful?"

"No, not really."

"What you do, no other familiar can do that!"

"Ah. Well, I had hoped there would never arise a need to open up that heap of misery again. I wasn't lying, Louise-sama. I was fully prepared to serve you to the fullest of my ability- in as far as it was necessary." He shrugged. "I guess I just understimated just how much your people relied on magic and just how potent it is." In his own way, he'd been quite arrogant.

Louise pointed with her other arm, switching out her stance. "And are you saying now that wasn't magic? Look, I believe you now when you say that you're not from around here. But you seriously can't expect me to believe that everybody else where you came from can do THAT."

"No, not really. As far as I know, there were only five of us... and I'm the last. But please believe me when I say, just because I can do THAT, doesn't mean I was -ever- in any position of power or authority." Shinji sighed. '_Craft yourself a wasteland, and crown yourself a King!_' a voice shouted into the abyss. '_Emperor of the Great and Everlasting Empire of Earth! Population, one! Hahahahaha!_' "Nope, not a noble, not magic, as I said to Siesta-san earlier, Louise-sama. Magic is something completely beyond my ability, Louise-sama."

"Hey, what's with this Louise-sama business?"

"Ah, -_sama_ is what's used in my land for nobility and social superiors. -_San_ is generally for anyone you respect or hold at a professional distance. Now... Louise-sama, you've proven to me that you are a noble worthy of your name. I'm proud to enter your service, Louise-sama."

"Uh... well... of course! You should be! I am a Vallière after all!"

"I don't give a damn about the Vallière. You are Louise. That is my noble master."

Louise blushed. Only her older sister, the middle child of the family, had ever expressed any faith in her. If Louise was thus devoted to her other sister to a disturbing degree, this was a shocking boost to her self-confidence. "You... stop saying things like that! You, you're trying to distract me, aren't you? Answer my questions!"

"Um, which question?"

Louise breathed in deeply, and jumped onto the bed. Standing over Shinji, he legs spread to either side of his body, she pointed again and asked "Now, what, in Brimir's name, was THAT?"

"Ah." His mind buzzed with explanations ranging from the scientific to the mystical to the metaphorical. All of them opaque and useless. Then, a gentle voice, clear as glass, reminded him of hint he gave while his heart was breaking. "It's an AT-field, Louise-sama. You could say... it's the light of my soul."

"An ethereal spear-head?"

"Excuse me?"

"That's what you said. The light of your soul, all right, but that looked nowhere even close to a lance."

"I said, AT-field. Um, wait. There must be something wrong with the magical translation between our words again. This can be troublesome... I won't know if we're actually communicating." Shinji looked at his left hand again. "Excuse me, but first, could you please repeat what I'm saying? Just as it sounds. AT-field."

"Ethéré fer de lance."

"Evangelion."

"Endoctrinementire."

"Central Dogma."

"Certain Domaine."

"Crap. Something is making sure information from my world isn't leaking into this one."

"Crap. Something is making sure information from my world isn't leaking into this one." Shinji tilted his head aside and looked exasperatedly at Louise. She, in turn, stared back imperiously. "Well, aren't you going to explain yourself?" she urged.

"Okay. When I say it's the light of my soul, I mean it's literally the light of my soul. The Ang... Shito, that we fought, they could use the power of their souls to perform feats beyond mankind. Some of them were so big, that they shouldn't even be able to hold their own shape, except that the power of their own souls just holds their physical body together. A few of us, we were chosen to... pilot? Ride? Command? These similar creatures to fight their estranged siblings." He sighed and slumped. "There's a saying that goes... _beware ye who fight monsters, lest in the end you turn into one_. The more we fought, the more we -**changed**-. The people we were sworn to defend in the end feared us, and in the end it was not monsters that killed us... but those people that we thought we were protecting."

"You... you're still not telling me everything."

"Please, trust me, Louise-san. This knowledge wouldn't help you. My memories..." he tapped the side of his head. "You don't want to know them. I'm your familiar, it's my duty to protect you. Including against myself. Please, for your own good. I'll tell you when you're ready."

"I say I'm ready now!"

"I say you're not."

"Obey me!"

"When it's something that will put you in danger, I can disobey. So, no."

Louise growled and grabbed his head with both hands. She sat on his stomach and brought her face close to his. She stared into his bland, unresisting gaze. Eventually, she sighed. "Fine. But what can you tell me? It's not magic... but can you do it again? Can you teach me how to do it?"

"Throwing out your soul is one of those things that's automatically A Bad Idea, Louise-sama." Shinji showed his palms. "It's not something I can do too often, also. Forming my own soul into a barrier, only when either of us are at risk of dying. Real danger, not just little battles. It's sealed away, and that seal is difficult to break on purpose. Do you believe me now, when I say I fought in a war?"

"Yes." Louise admitted, forcing herself to look brave and unflappable.

"Believe me too, when I say... I've never managed to protect anything in my life. I want... I want to start with you, but it's difficult. It's not something I can just turn on or off at will. There's only one thing I'm actually good at, and it's -_**ending lives**_-. Every fight I've ever decided to fight, it's always been to the death. This is actually the first time that I managed to convince someone to just surrender."

Louise looked down. "So that's it, huh? You're not going to trust me? And you want me to trust you."

"I'm sorry."

"Excuse me, Mistress Vallière?" there was a knocking at the door, and it opened to show Siesta. "But it's a request from the Headmaster himself. Now that your familiar is awake, if you can..." the maid gasped at the sight. A noble, a mage, was straddling a commoner, her familiar.

Belatedly the two teens realized their position. "It- it's not what it looks like!" Louise screeched as she hurriedly got off, inadvertedly kneeing Shinji in the gut, who let out an 'Ouf!' of pain. "Nothing happened! Nothing's happening!"

"No, no, it's none of my business. Sorry for interrupting." Siesta hurriedly closed the door. "Though really you should wait until he's healed more..." were her parting words.

Louise blushed heavily. Shinji began rubbing the bridge of his nose. This was a complication both unforeseen and entirely undesirable. "Look, Louise-sama."

"S-shut up! Don't say anything! This never happened, okay? Just stay there, be quiet! I've got to sort this out." Louise didn't look back, and fled from her own room.

"Huh. What's her problem?" Shinji sighed. "Though I guess I kind of went overboard with the duel. I need some simpler, more plausible way of explaining it to other people."

'_Hah. You just admitted to being dangerous and yet somehow under her control. You're now the brooding bad boy wrapped around a mysterious past full of pain. Are you really that much of an idiot? Teenage girls, for some reason, are really attracted to jerks like that. Hell, you were like that_.'

'_Th-that was different! Kaworu was... kind_.'

Mocking laughter was the only answer. Shinji desperately wanted to punch himself in the face. So, he did. He was rewarded with a generous burst of pain that echoed around in his skull, until he knocked himself out.

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Louise had to endure a somewhat uncomfortable and unsatisfying interview with Old Osmond. All they did was to dig up her dismal academic history, and there was no explanation for how she of all people could have summon a human... if it really was a human... as a familiar. She answered his questions honestly, that she only did the Academy instructed rituals. She had a feeling that the kindly old Headmaster thought she was lying, for some reason.

A day later, and Shinji felt strong enough to resume his tasks. He sighed at the pile of laundry that Louise had built it. It was punishment for letting himself be hurt, his own personal pain was not enough. After all, she had to give up most of her allowance for the reagents to fix that. Siesta helped, teaching him how the servants washed clothes for the nobles. It was surprisingly normal to his experience, they even had bars of soap very similar to that he used to see on store shelves.

The Gandálfr runes never did stop glowing, though more muted than before. "I need to cover this up." he said to Louise, the closest he could get to complaining. Though he may have blown to hell all chances of living a harmless, mundane, easily-overlooked life, it was not good to draw undue attention. His old clothes were ruined from the duel and he had to request for new garments suitable for that of personal servant, like a butler or something.

It was time for him to accompany Louise back into open society. Shinji put on the manservant's long black suit and checked the fit of his white gloves. He looked at himself in the mirror. All he needed now was a scraggly chin beard and some orange-tinted sunglasses. He turned away angrily.

He closed his eyes and felt himself sink. In the darkness he stood alone. Out from the lightless void showed countless eyes, watching, measuring, judging.

"Hey, are you listening?"

Shinji opened his eyes, the sunlight stinging his eyes. "I'm sorry. What did you just say?"

"I said I won't tolerate you going off on your own to do any more stupid things." Louise raised a finger triumphantly. "You're my Familiar, after all!"

Shinji wanted to laugh. He did not know what he deserved, but with Louise around in her childishly innocent and egotistical, all-too-demanding way, he would never lack for pressures to gauge his remaining worth. Redemption was not for those such as him. He bowed with his gloved left hand over his heart. A strangely feral grin crossed his face. "Yes, my _Master_."

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* * *

First off, my apologies for stealing whole chunks right out of the Baka-Tsuki translation of Zero No Tsukaima. It's rather easy to add sections when one can just lift it right off the source material. When it gets around to more serious deviations from plot, likely it's going to slow down much as Shinji and WH40k did.

Anyway, this was done because I heartily agreed with what was mention in the JustBugsMe entry in tvtropes for Zero No Tsukaima. It actually has a pretty good plot at its core. It could have been much more than generic harem fare, plenty of those war plots and politics are actually pretty interesting. It's why I'm working straight from the light novels. Some situations in it treated as comedy just as well could be used for drama, intrigue, or horror. The books did well later in focusing more the greater sweep of war, and how it affects these young people.

Just like with NGE, it seems to me that it's the sort of setting that if you inject just a bit more insanity into it, might coalesce into something a bit more balanced. Louise's tsundere-ness, hugely over-emphasized for comedic purposes, sadly get in the way of the compelling plot and pull the characters into the familiar back-and-forth of jealousies and indecisiveness. Hence, post-3I Shinji. To love is to hurt, as a starting point.

It's really starting to disturb me how so many of my stories deal with insanity. Can't I just have a nice, sane, reasonable protagonist? Unfortunately, it seems insanity is an easy lever for so many turns of plot, in much the same way as tsundere reactions tend to drive the harem situation. Heh. Perhaps it's just sheer laziness. One of the other changes I wanted to make was that, through centuries of cultural conditioning, all nobles to some degree are assholes (re: Old Osmond), while all commoners to some degree just as spiteful (Siesta or Marteau). Character development begins with being able to see perspectives other than their own. Brimir's balance is starting to crack, and it's almost time again for the status quo to realign. As far as the light novels have me believe, the Big Bad of the story is pushing chaos into Halkeginia just because it would be fun. It's a pretty 'Major' move, eh? Eh? It's not gonna be grimdark, but a little more of the serious background leeching out into the typical harem hijinks. I mean, if you remove those angst-and-pique-filled scenes of teenage love, what's there to fill the gap?

Also, regarding the point of honor, as raised by a pre-reader at TFF: both Shinji and Guiche felt that ladies have been wronged, and that it's entirely the other guy's fault. Hence, the duel. However, the value systems of a noble raised to defend his real and his honor and someone born from the hard reality of Second Impact (and living through the death of the entire human race), are of course wildly divergent. It's fine to dislike the protagonist, since that's kind of the whole point of Shinji Ikari's character, isn't? If you -like- the boy without reserve, that tends to erode his canon characterization. Shinji and WH40k gets a bit of a pass, since it's about rebuilding the character from the ground up. Here, this is still the Shinji that jerked off to Asuka's comatose form. He had accepted the worthlessness of his being, but for some reason here that went on for uncounted time, crossing over from pathetic self-hate into vicious disregard.

In any case, I hope you got some enjoyment from this brief look into an alternate treatment of the 'Familiar of Zero'. Very sorry, but please don't expect a follow-up too soon. I do have the other major projects to finish first.

(sigh)

-bpen


	2. Chapter 2: Goldfish

**Points of Familiarity**

chapter two

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It was the daily routine of an Eldritch Horror from Beyond the Reaches of Space and Time. He woke just before sunrise, and along with other servants would prepare for the day. A hard bun and a cup of hot ginger brew allowed him to chase away the lingering sluggishness of sleep, and then he would make his way up the tower with a basin of warm water.

After waking up Louise, he would then help her wash up. Most people in Halgekinia took a full bath only once a week, on other days they made do with a morning and evening damp towel rubdown. After scrubbing Louise's face, arms, and other less... sensitive... areas, it was time for breakfast.

At first, Louise insisted that her familiar stick by her side even through the meals. No longer did Shinji have to sit on the floor, but could sit near Louise. His meals remained the same bland fare, though. The first day of the arrangement, it looked like there were a few nobles who wanted to object. They quietly turned back to their meals as soon as the familiar picked up one of the table knives and seemed to ponder the... possibilities. Both Shinji and Louise sighed, disappointed. Had the nobles really been that easy to cow all this time? They'd never let up on Louise back when she seemed unable to successfully deny their taunts. The girl thought back to her family, and strangely enough her own stubborn, often stupidly-persistent pride was the answer. Her escalations worked, because inevitably the bullies would either back down or a teacher would get involved.

Eventually however, Shinji had to beg away from the honor. He could feel the stares. It was tremendously uncomfortable to be the center of attention again. "After all, no other familiars are eating with their masters, Louise-sama. If you're going to flaunt the loophole like this, then so can others. And that will lead to many different -_animals_- eating with nobles here in the Alvii Hall." How unhygenic. It was setting a bad precedent.

Louise looked sour. It sounded as if he preferred to eat with -_that maid_- rather than his master. A compromise was eventually reached. He would have most of the mornings to himself, as that was the best time to do chores. He needed to return quickly enough to Louise's last class before lunch so he could pull out the chair in the hall for her to sit. Only then would he be allowed to go off for his own lunch. He had to sit with her for dinner, there was no getting out of that.

It was actually surprisingly generous. Shinji Ikari was prepared to accept any rebuke for his impudence. For some reason, Louise was in an extended good mood.

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One day, as they walked towards her classes, Shinji asked "So you're not getting any trouble from your classmates, anymore?"

Louise shrugged. "It's been a while. They're getting brave enough to get back to their old habits." Her failures in class had her being called Louise the Zero again. "Now I feel like just laughing in their faces."

"That's good. I was afraid Guiche or his friends may be giving you a hard time when I'm not around." Shinji dimly remembered bigger kids in his elementary school trying to play protector, but he had been much happier just being ignored. Or as happy as his personal code of apathy could allow.

"You already beat him in a duel. You can't challenge him and he won't challenge you again." Louise smirked. "You can't just beat up people whenever you feel like it, you know."

Shinji licked his lips. There was a distinctly ferrous taste. "Well, there are other ways."

_'For every slave, a slaver. For every martyr, a murderer.'_ was the whisper.

_'I'd like to solve this in a peaceful, non-violent manner, thank you.' _"Guiche seems like the sort to value his reputation as a playboy. I could threaten to spread a rumor about his being gay."

"But... he's already gay. What would spreading a rumor about him being -_happy_- change anything?"

Shinji paused and sighed. "There's that translation thing again. I meant to say, that he won't like being accused of being a homosexual."

Luise blushed. "But... I think he wants to be known as a man who likes se-... se... you know!"

Her familiar groaned. "I mean that he's a fruit. A poofter. He goes yo-ho-ho on the deep blue sea, going under and over the plank. A... none of these are getting through to you, aren't they? What, I need to get even more explicit?" Shinji sighed and glanced aside to a red-haired girl who was grinning viciously. "That he likes to take it from behind! That he prefers sucking on bananas to licking clams! That... "

Louise put her hands on her ears. "Ew! Eew! What are you saying, perverted servant?"

"I'm sorry, but... oh. Um. Now that I think about it, this depends on how acceptable this is in your society. I know certain societies that actually -_encouraged_- this sort of thing." Classical Greece, for example. It was also not unusual during certain periods in Japanese feudal history.

Louise felt her lunch rising at the back of her throat. "You... you're not like that, are you?" She blushed at the mental images. No way, that's not... possible. How does that even work?

"N-no! Of course not!"

Louise gave out a 'bleeaargh' and then took out her wand. She blasted him right in the face with a cleaning charm. There was a sizable explosion.

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That night, Louise's familiar sported a black eye and had to sit and eat on the floor. With a long-suffering sigh, he ate his hard bread and thin soup.

"What happened?" Siesta asked later. "I thought you and Miss Vallière were getting along just fine?"

"It seems I've offended my master's pure and virginal ears." Shinji shrugged.

Siesta giggled. "Why don't you tell me about it? Trust me, my ears aren't as virginal as the rest of me."

Shinji blushed and looked away. Siesta giggled some more.

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The boy did not dream. Dreams were a function of the subconscious mind, but what lay at the back of his skull were countless other minds that could make conscious, self-aware decisions of their own, all screaming to be heard. He could take no comfort in memory, for it the barest touch of those memories that redicovered horror in his heart. He had no hopes for the future. Whatever his subconscious wanted him to know, it relayed the information or condemnation directly, without the distorting lens of dreaming. There was no freedom even in there. Thus, there was only the dead of night.

A glinting pair of eyeglasses caught his attention. For a moment, Shinji thought it was Gendo Ikari again, but it was it was Ritsuko Akagi, and yet something more. The woman's face was shrouded in shadow, showing only the mirror-like reflections off her eyeglasses and the red of her lips. The bright glare of her white lab coat obscured all other features. "Follow me, Third Child." said the scientist, her voice the same at least.

There was no time, no distance, in the emptiness of the boy's mind, but eventually they reached a round table with three red spheres on it. About the size of a fist, each glowed with internal light. One was red, the other green, and the last pale white. "It's puzzling to us just how you were summoned, but even you don't question -why- you are a valid target for the Familiar Summoning."

Shinji nodded. "I'm not really -_human_- anymore."

"And there you would be wrong. Your soul is not a human soul, not anymore, but your physical body is nothing short of distressingly normal. Therein lies our problem." Ritsuko picked up the red sphere and the green sphere. "This is your life energy, the force of your soul, if you will. This is the magical energy stored inside the familiar runes etched into your being." She began to push the two spheres together, only for the two globes to repel each other. "Why do you think this happens?"

"They're mutually incompatible forms of energy."

"And there you would be wrong again. Just because you cannot use magic, does not mean everyone else on this world fails the test of being a human being. The nobles -_can_-. It is not inherently incompatible with the light of the soul."

Shinji blinked. "Then why can't I use magic? What's the difference between a noble and a commoner?"

"We still don't know what enables certain people to perform magical feats, but we have reasons behind this conclusion. Your own metaphysical abilities and the ambient energy pattern that is focused into 'magic' are like oil in water. Understand?" She then set down the green sphere to pick up the white sphere. "This is your master's magical power. Observe."

Ritsuko pushed the two spheres together, and they combined into a larger, still bright red ball of energy.

"Wait... so that's why I've been feeling edgy lately. I still have some of Luise-sama's magic stored in my body?" Then that meant, while the runes were at odds with his own abilities, magic in itself was not a poison. "What can this do?"

"We don't know." Ritsuko replied. "There is no immediate benefit to collecting residual energy from your master. However, there is one additional effect." She picked up the green globe. "And thus-"

The smaller sphere was easily absorbed by the larger one. The new globe of energy turned an even deeper shade of red.

"Huh. So somehow her specific type of magic combines with the familiar runes. Does this mean I can use the AT-field AND its set of instincts and magical boosts at the same time?"

"No. Remember what I said about the two types of energy being like oil and water? Why do you think trying to use both just ends up paralyzing you?" Shinji just shrugged. The scientist just scoffed, her red lips twitching into an amused smirk. "This is because we're dealing here with two different types of Reinforcement. They both attempt to make your frail human body perform beyond its limits. However, when one is already present, then the other must try to force it out. Thus, blockage. However, your master's magic acts as a surfactant of some sort, meaning one type of energy may instead be used to amplify the other, lowering the delay between switch-overs."

"A what?"

Ritsuko Akagi reached into the glowing red ball and pulled out a much smaller white sphere. "Oil and water. Soap."

"Ooh. That's interesting." '_Shouldn't she have said instead it's a lubricant to make switching roles easier?_' He had a feeling a lot of things were once again being hidden from him, though he realized that even his locked-off barely-sane state was better than the alternative. His brain and comprehension, given his level of education, was also distressingly normal. "What else can it do, Akagi-sensei?"

"There are several other potential applications, but we need more experimental data. Could you pull off being rude and insensitive enough so she would blast you again?"

"Um.. probably." The boy thought back to Louise's crying face. She was extremely cute when she was so vulnerable, and it was disturbing to him how much he liked that. "I... don't want to, though. It's not like we really need to rush this, right? We shouldn't have to go all-out in this school." Though he was the one summoned, the ritual was quite a harmless routine. There was no need to open up the Well of Souls again; they just had to do it to save him from his own stupidity.

Ritsuko nodded. "Acceptable. We will inform you when the situation changes."

Maya Ibuki appeared from behind Ritsuko Akagi and, grinning, gave him a thumbs-up. "Fight-o, Shinji-kun!"

He blinked, and they were gone. He yawned. It was an interesting non-dream, but it was almost morning again.

Louise had interesting dreams of a different sort through the night, and pointedly avoided looking at her familiar directly in the eyes through most of the next day.

ị

ị

Classes were boring. This seemed to be a universal torture. At first, the lessons had been fascinating. Marvels and miracles such as turning water into wine, combining various reagents into useful potions, creating fireballs or blocks of ice out of thin air, levitating boxes and sticks for familiars to fetch, and so on- but eventually novelty of the experience dimmed. He remained unable to use magic. At least getting stabbed was -interesting-.

Shinji yawned. Waking up early, fixing the bed, then doing laundry- his poor diet and uncomfortable sleeping arrangements left him easily exhausted. Morning was the best time to wash though, for that was when the fountain's water flow was the strongest. Tristain Academy did not have faucets, but many communal fountains, large and small, up and down the castle. The largest was outside. The largest was out in the souther courtyard, otherwise known as the Servant's Quarter, and there maids tended to do their washing after lunch, in the sleepy afternoon. In the morning, while they were rushing to prepare for lunch, it was not quite so crowded.

_'I'm so weak...'_ thought the boy. He could not even keep his eyelids open. He put his elbows on the table and laced his fingers together. Supporting his chin with the arch, his breathing slowed down and he seemed to fall asleep.

Louise and the teacher looked disapproving. He looked so relaxed it was nearly sinful. Most of the other familiars were also asleep in the lazy afternoon. Louise grit her teeth to suppress a yawn.

Holding her quill, she tried to take note of everything the teacher was saying. Every spell she tried always ended in an explosion, but as the familiar ceremony showed, she was not incapable of doing effective magic. Maybe if she was scrupulous about the words and the gestures, she would have the desired effect AFTER the explosion. Louise pouted. This meant the whole repertoire of cleaning and levitation charms were right out, not if she wanted to keep the things she wanted cleaned or moved. She glanced aside again. That was what servants and familiars were for, luckily.

Shinji Ikari was now starting to snore faintly. She wondered how it would be like to be so free, uncaring of what others may think, and absolutely confident in one's own power.

At the edge of her hearing, she heard again, that strange mocking feminine cackle. Louise turned around, and saw nothing out of the ordinary.

ị

_'Bored! Boredboredboredbored! You fucking boring little boy!_' Asuka was jumping up and down the table. '_Raaargh! Why couldn't you have just -killed- that gnat of a noble. Even a manhunt through the woods, being forced to sleep in cold caves and survive off fish and berries, is better than this!_'

Shinji opened his eyes slightly. '_You mean, give me a perfectly valid reason to avoid all other human beings?_'

Asuka paused. _'Hmf. I guess you're right. That would be just a minor inconvenience._'

Pain was nothing. Being hated was a familiar feeling. It held no more terrors for him. '_Asuka, I thought the whole point of this was to drive -me- into despair. You're not supposed to break that much faster._'

The girl pilot pulled at her hair and screamed out in frustration. _'Watching you suffer is supposed to be fun. This isn't fun! Take me back to Disneylaand!'_

_'Excuse me?'_

_'Oh, look at me! My pain, it makes me so special! Get over yourself. You're not the only one that has to make sacrifices, idiot Shinji. You're not the only one who wants to earn the touch of purgatory. Understand?' _

_'Um. Sort of?__' _So, did that mean that while he had the shelter of sleep, she had no choice but to just sit and watch? Or as a mind formed out of his own transcendal oversoul, did she too return to the silence when he closed his consciousness? Either way, it should be maddening. Could a mind not bound to grey matter even go mad? _'I'm sorr-'_

_'Shut up! Shut up! We won't let you cheapen this sacrifice!' _

_'Ow! Ouch!__' _To the outside world, Shinji Ikari looked peaceful and unmoved. In more subjective reality, it stung, leaving him to ask just -when- the plugsuit got high heels. As if it wasn't such fetish gear already.

Her kicking halted suddenly_. __'Wait a second, there's been progress on the nature of your magical parasite.' _Asuka crouched on the desk so she could poke at his forehead. '_Behave, puppy.'_

Shinji blinked, and she was gone. He groaned. There was nothing now to save him from the pain of boredom._ 'Don't leave... Asuka, you're channeling an entirely different timeline.'_ he sighed.

ị

ị

"Mou! You embarrassed me in there. You're worse than a dog, what kind of familiar has to get its master to wake him up?" Luise looked back to her servant, walking half a step behind her. "Are you listening to me? Hey! Pay attention when I'm talking to you!"

Shinji nodded, his gaze still distant.

"Hey! Are you ignoring me?"

Shinji just shrugged, his mind still elsewhere. Which was the the master and which was the pet? "As you say, master." said the boy.

Louise let out a slow growl. However, taking the time to properly chastise her familiar would make her late for the next class. "Didn't you get enough sleep? What's wrong with you now?"

_'So, the thing is a set of instincts. Damn. It's impressive in its own way. It actually bypasses your spine and activates all the nerve endings directly. That's why you don't have to feel pain or exertion.'_

"It's magic. I'm trying not to worry too much about how it works."

"Then don't worry about it! It's just magic." Or was this a dig at her lack of magical ability?

_'But what IS magic? Is it the energy pattern? Is it the relationship -between- incantations and the expected effects? Seriously, where is this crazy tattoo getting the magic to pump up your system in a hurry?'_

_'From Louise, maybe?'_

_'I'd say the energy requirements for that is insane, but I've seen some kids turn igneous rocks into pure metallic ore with nothing more than some chanting and flick of a wand.' _Asuka was walking perpendicular to the wall, her head in the air just above Louise's pouting face. _'Anyway, while we don't know how or why it works, we've figured out what we can actually do with it.'_

"So what do you want me to do?"

Louise bit her lip. _'Look only at me. Pay more attention to me.'_ was what she wanted to say, but that sounded too needy. "Stop slacking off!" she ended up saying, far too hostile to her liking but that was already the habit. She then just bulled through any shame or self-doubt. It had to be his fault, rather than admit a noble like her had to say sorry. "If.. if you're not properly attentive, then I'll have to punish you. I won't have a lazy, careless familiar. You've got to be alert at all times to serve your master!"

_'If she said that to me, I'd punch her head clean off.'_ Asuka commented lightly.

"It's no problem, really." _'Let's just get on with solving this issue.'_

_'We can make some sort of permanent blockage to make either type of power more responsive. The familiar magic is a lot easier to pull out, it's kinda -eager- even, but you know its downsides.'_

_'It's mind control, right?'_

_'That's a side-effect. While its magic is in your body, we can't make any of our own adjustments to this shell. But the alternative is trying to force your own soul into evoking an AT-field and because you're -not- an Angel, you're trying to pull out that power from the Well of Souls. Y'know, there might be times when we just don't feel like obliging your whining. The only reason you haven't exploded into a shower of LCL is because there's nowhere else your soul can go.'_

"So I have to make a choice?"

_'I just finished the exposition for that, baka.'_

"A choice? Do you -_want_- to piss me off? I'm telling you, it's not hard! A-and I won't hold back, either! I won't tolerate disrespect, you ungrateful commoner!" She had spent most of her money for the reagents to bring him back from near death, and this was her thanks? She had thought he'd be more aware and more intelligent than that. This listless, shambling servant was not what she expected. What happened to all that terrible rage? He now acted like... a jobless vagrant, really. His eyes were dull with disinterest, even to his own existence.

"Settle down, master." Shinji said while looking at a point just above her head. _'Uh, I'd rather not deny y-... the souls. When can you do this?'_

Asuka closed her eyes. _'It's done.'_

Luise took a deep breath and rallied her courage. "A familiar must be strong and determined! Whatever you were before you were summoned, that's changed. As -_my_- familiar, what you do reflects on me!" She wanted to see that hellish shine again. "Get your act together! You're better than this!"

Shinji looked down. His self-image was still that of a thin young teen in the same clothes that he wore coming to Tokyo-3. "I don't feel any different."

_'Of course not. Your natural state is one without magic, remember?'_ Asuka hopped off the wall and began walk backwards, facing him and keeping pace with Louise. _'Oh, that's weird. We couldn't suppress it completely. While there's still a small connection leaving off somewhere, it left the hole where it forced its way into your soul.'_

_'Ow.' _"Louise-sama, stop poking me." _'Is that bad?'_

"Hey, at least look at me, damn it! Why won't you listen to what I say?"

_'We... I... don't know. It goes straight into the Well of Souls, and that's not supposed to be possible.'_

_"_Well, it's better to leave that hole unexplored, I think." Shinji said with another shrug. _'There's no hurry, it's not like there's a war around..'_

_"**What? **_What hole? What are you talking about?"_' _

_'What?'_ Shinji looked down to meet Louse's eyes. His expression was distinctly frazzled.

"And why are you looking at me as if I'M the one that's crazy?" she asked hotly.

_'Are you that confident of being able to protect this girl with your -own- power?'_

_'Uh. Not really, no. If it's a set of instincts, can you fix it so I won't go berserker from it again?"_

_'Hah! All this thing does is make it easier to defend your master, maybe influencing your enthusiasm a little. The rest of it? That's all you, you murderous freak.'_

"I'm trying to control myself, you know. " he sighed. _'Just leave me alone for now, please. It's not a problem.'_

Louise narrowed her gaze. He was getting far too uppity. This she could not let stand, for the time when she might need him most he'd just laugh in her face. So he did not fear her, eh? Just because he fought in a war, he thinks she's a joke? "Control yourself? From doing what? It's not like you can really do anything to me."

_'Control yourself? From doing what? It's not like you can really do anything to me.'_

_'Please, Louise-sama. I'm just feeling a bit under the weather.' _Shinji thought soothingly. "Lead me not into temptation, Second Children. Just because you're like that doesn't mean I can't push you down and make you cry. I did it before, I can do it again."

"WhaaaaaAAAA-?" Louise screeched. "You.. you.. dare speak to me that way? Like I'd ever let a thing like you touch me! The thought alone-...!"

_'You're just too easy, Third Child.'_

"I'm easy? Remember that time you kept shoving your ass into my fa...oh no. Oh hell no. Ohhoho-ho crap." It took great effort to tilt his head down a little bit, to look upon Louise's face. Her cute face was deceptively placid, her shoulders shook with fury beyond all reasoning. "Woops? I'm saying the loud parts sofly and soft parts out loud." the boy mumbled, his eyes wide in shocked realization. Of course Sohryu would not warn him about that. She deliberately delivered him into confusion. He might have countless souls and a fractured mind but none of those things inherently helped towards multi-tasking. His brain was still made of the same gray matter as anyone. "Fine. I deserve this. Give it your best shot, Louise-sama." He grit his teeth, stuck his chin out and waited for the pain. He was not disappointed.

"S-stay away from me! You perverted servant!" Louise screeched while, completely contrary to her words, she lunged. She kicked at his groin, but Shinji's hands moved on their own to block it. Groin-kicks were actually rather difficult to pull off against a mostly aware and prepared target. Louise snarled slightly and head-butted him in the chin. While he staggered back, surprised, only then did she pull out her wand.

The wall exploded. Shinji Ikari feel two stories out the side of the castle and into the Amblin courtyard. Fortunately he fell into a fountain. It was a glorious belly-flop. It hurt. A lot. _'Wow.'_ Asuka peered out the hole. _'That was refreshingly direct. I'm really beginning to like this girl.'_

His reply was bubbles.

ị

ị

Louise de la Vallière very conspicuously dined alone that night. Inside the kitchen, Shinji Ikari was being spoonfed by Siesta, much to his discomfiture. The cooks were hardly hiding their amusement at the sight. He'd been a part of a strange new world for less than a week, and already people were pairing him up with Siesta. He was forcing himself not to flinch each time she drew close.

"There's no need to be embarrassed." the maid crooned. "It would take you too long to eat with your left hand." Shinji's right hand was still in plaster cast. He was surprised by how many mundane parrallels there were in the new world, though applied with magical methods. "You just need to rest up and heal. Honestly... doing this after just being so wounded a few days ago. That girl...!" That _noble! _was implied in her grumble. "Does she have no self-control?"

"It's that part why I'm not angry about this." replied Shinji. _'And you shouldn't waste your time being angry for me'_ was clear in his tone.

"Why not? She could have killed you." All the bandages contrasted grimly against the velvet black of his suit.

"That's... unlikely." For a variety of reasons. He chose the completely untrue but most believable one. "Magic protects its users a little, right? Nobles are slightly tougher, healthier, and heals faster without having do anything special. It's their magic that does that."

"Tougher? Hah! They should try working in the fields sometime!" The one who called out was Marteau, the head chef, a well-rounded man well into his forties. Naturally, he was also a commoner himself, but with his position of head chef at the Academy, he earned as much as a lower class noble, a fact he could be proud of. The cooks made 'hear-hear' noises of agreement.

Shinji nodded. "I'm not going to dispute their physical weaknesses. I sure didn't have magic, but I -_felt_- it kicking in to reduce the damage."

"That doesn't excuse anything!" said Siesta.

"Well, maybe not. She should eventually learn to control her temper better. It's still difficult to get mad at her though."

"Why not?" Siesta asked, pulling away and looking suspicious. Unlike Louise she saw someone that was just so -_beautifully-_ broken. Her heart ached every time their eyes met. "Is there some... special reason... you're so willing to forgive Miss Vallière?" _'Are you being forced to be so relaxed about this?' _A human summoned to be perfectly obedient to his or her master... it was for a good reason that most mind magics were outlawed, the potential for abuse was just incredible. Or, there were certain other _tendencies _to consider.

'_It's not just because she thought I was a pervert. It was that I'd been led into making her think I might be a rapist as well_.' Fortunately he was now attentive enough not to say that out loud. "Well... she's loud, impatient, opinionated, insistent and she want to monopolize all my free time." Shinji looked distant, remembering. "From what I've been told, that's what having a little sister is like. I've... never had a sister."

_'What about Ayanami?'_

_'What about H__ēra__?'_

_'Point taken.' _

Seista let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding. "That's all? Someone old as Miss Vallière should really stop acting like such a little kid about everything."

Shinji nodded. "That's true. But it's better if she learns the consequences of her actions from me, instead of someone who would suffer permanent damage. I saw that she was that genuinely scared that I'd died." It was just too bad she could not afford any more reagants. He kept his face carefully bland. "Isn't more dangerous if she decides she actually likes seeing the look of fear and pain she may inspire in others? "

"You're too kind, our wolf." Marteau laughed. "Here, why don't you let me give you a kiss on your forehead to show my appreciation. I insist!"

"Hey!" Siesta glared at the cook. The man giggled and tugged at his pencil moustache.

"Why am I a wolf?" the boy asked. They did not see it happen, and maybe the tale grew taller in the telling, but it was still surprising why they were being so friendly. Was it pity? Then what was up with that respect in their eyes? It would be more sensible to find fear in there. Change was something terrifying. He could destroy their easy, comfortable lives just by association! _'Don't look at me like that!' _he wanted to shout.

"Didn't you fight a noble to protect the honor of lovely maidens? You didn't hesitate, showing no mercy until you knew your opponent was truly defeated." Marteau's eyes glittered wickedly. "You're a wild one, our wolf. Even now you pretend only to be tamed."

"Um... I think it's quite heroic, what you're doing." Siesta whispered, while looking away.

Shinji wanted to laugh, quite unkindly, at her face. "I tried to be a hero before... it didn't really work out. This, it's... the path of least resistance?" He shrugged. "This way only one person needs to get hurt."

A flash of anger passed across her face. She assumed he was referring to his duel, not whatever had passed in his homeland. "That's not true! It's not your responsibility at all. Why should you have to suffer for something that's not your fault?"

"I'm not here to fix anything, Siesta-san." the boy said gently. "I have no answers for you."

"It's still not fair, though."

_'Someone like me shouldn't even exist. There is no fairness anywhere in the universe.' _Shinji was finding it extremely difficult to give a damn about something as paltry as physical pain or social injustice. So many eyes watching. He fidgeted in place. Trying to divert attention to safer topics, he said "This is quite good." He smacked his lips noisily.

"It- it's only leftover stew. I'm sorry we don't have anything much better left."

"Oh, no, it's fine. It's made by Marteau-san, so of course it's special." Shinji tilted his head to the side. "This taste... behind the beef, that's ginger, isn't it?"

"An excellent tongue, our wolf!" the head cook crowed. Siesta was still glaring at him. He could approach, but it was more amusing to see her acting like some mother hen. Or a wolf herself. "Someday you really should show us your talents in the kitchen. Show us some recipes from your homeland... haha, we won't let the nobles even know of them, of course we won't!"

Siesta felt something on the hand holding the empty spoon. Shinji had his head bowed, and two little droplets slid down the back of her palm. The boy sniffed, and two more droplets fell. _'Tears? Is he crying? Oh, why?' _What did she do wrong?

"I'm sorry..." Shinji said in a squelched voice. "Don't mind me. I'm just... give me a minute." _'Dammit, now don't I have any self-control? I've managed to forget for so long, is it really this easy to bring it all back?'_

Everyone else in the kitchen paused, but Marteau bid them go back to their duties. They turned back to their tasks, pointedly ignoring the moment of weakness. He really was just a kid. It was completely unfair.

"Are you... are you okay?" Siesta asked desperately. "Um... are you feeling pain somewhere? Please... don't hesitate..."

"No, it's fine." The boy took a deep breath and tilted his face up. _'It comes back.'_ He blinked repeatedly until his eyes cleared. "I just remembered something, that's all. Ginger... it has a lot of medicinal properties too."

Siesta looked lost. "Yes, yes it does." She flicked a '_what should I do?_' glance at Marteau. He shrugged. She settled for praising him. He was too shy. He needed to show a bit more self-esteem. Commoners were supposed to be freer with their feelings. Easy to laugh, easy to cry, bouncing back from anything. "You're very knowledgeable, Shinji."

He laughed, and it was bitter to everyone's ears. "No... not really. I remember, Asuka... you had such a craving for ginger one day. All I knew was that it was a root. What it looked above-ground, I had no idea, and I had to go digging all over the place just hoping. I did find one... and I had to learn by myself how to grow them from buds. Ginger boiled in water was what we used as tea and all-around disinfectant."

His voice was hollow. _'Who is Asuka?'_ Siesta wanted to ask, recognizing that he was not exactly in the present. It was obviously a strong memory. She waited until the distant pain in his expression cleared.

"Oh. Did I say that out loud again?" the boy asked, looking startled. "Sorry." Then, in a somewhat accusing tone, he asked "...aren't you going to ask?"

"It's none of our business." Siesta replied, shaking her head. She looked sad enough. "You don't have to tell us anything. It's your -right-. We're not going to take it from you." The spoon was bending under her grip. She itched with the need to know. As a maid, she knew quite a bit about wordly things. Ginger was naturally hot, used mainly for seasoning. It was understandable that sometimes people wanted a different taste, but the way he said it... a craving like that, only one type of person could make such a demand and force total obedience.

Shinji looked around. He saw similar recognition in the eyes of several cooks, even Mister Marteau. He nodded. Did he have to hide it? It was not something that shameful, right? What did he have to lose? He looked further back, and a red-haired girl smirked.

"Asuka... she was..." He looked confused. What they had was not quite love, not quite hatred, not quite desperation, but there was a sense that they were complete together. "... my Asuka."

"I understand." said Marteau, his voice uncharacteristically deep and gentle. "What happened, my wolf?" He ignored Siesta's gasp at his uncouth question. Talking about it was better than bottling it in. He knew this from experience, pretending that it never happened would throw away the good meat with the wash water. If he had the courage back then, then probably he would have been a different sort of man.

The boy grimaced, clenching his fists so tightly his upper body was shaking. The plaster in his right arm cracked from how strongly he had to force himself just to say it plainly. "She... died in childbirth. We were too young."

Siesta gasped. _'Oh. Oh my. I never imagined- it was not enough that they forced you to fight a war you never wanted... you poor thing.' _She could feel herself tearing up as well.

Shinji snarled. "Don't. Pity me, hate me, do whatever you want, but don't you dare tell me it's not my fault." Sympathy was the last thing he wanted. He should have known saying that would not get them off his back. Baka Shinji. Stupid. Stupid. Not knowing others. _'Damn you all. I just wanted to change the topic to something easier. Why the hell am I here? Let me out. Go away. Shut up shut up shut up... STOP LOOKING AT ME! ALL OF YOU! I'll kill...'_

Asuka continued to lean against the kitchen wall, her expression cold.

Shinji suddenly stood up.

"I'm sorry!" Siesta cried out. "Just... we won't pry anymore!"

Shinji was looked right and left, frowning. His eyes were unfocused. "Siesta-san?"

The maid looked down, accepting the honorific as a rebuke. "Yes?"

"Where in this castle can you find a corridor with a portrait of lady in a purple dress with two poodles at her feet?"

"Huh?" Recovering quickly, she replied to that bit of randomness with "It's in the third floor of the Water Wing... that's the northeast spoke of this castle."

Shinji frowned some more. He covered one eye, then the other. To keep his vision in the _'now'_, he kept his left palm over his left eye. A heart-clenching feeling of dread burned within his chest. The view moved slightly up and down, he was seeing through someone's eyes. The view turned into another corridor, and he glimpsed pink and black. Luise, slouching slightly, mumbling to herself, was walking towards the stairs.

"Something's wrong." he said curtly. He covered his other eye, to bring his attention to the _'here'_. "I need to go."

He ran out the kitchen. Asuka looked just as puzzled and apprehensive. She leaned back and sank into the wall.

ị

ị

_'She's loose.' _Asuka commented lightly.

It was a good thing it was night, and no one out in the halls. Most of the students were already at their beds, or like Louise heading there. Those who did not want to turn in just yet had no intention of being seen past imposed sleeping hours. A gust of wind and a shapeless blur passed through the corridors. "I'm not going to make it!" the boy gasped. He punched at a wall with his right hand still in a cast. The plaster exploded. The wall exploded. He jumped through. His fear was real. All he could see now was those last few steps before reaching Louise. The Gandálfr familiar runes burned bright. Smoke wafted from the back of his gloved left hand.

_'Faster!' _Shinji shouted inside._ 'I need to be faster!' _He stomped hard on the first step of a long stairway, enough to crack the white stone, and leapt clear to the top. The magic of the runes allowed him to land smoothly despite a total lack of depth perception.

Louise raised her foot into the air.

The white gloves in Shinji's exploded in green fire. His view changed to Louise's. He felt the shove at her back as she felt it, he felt her fear, her confusion- it could not really be happening, right? He could feel her cold shock, how her senses seemed to thin out and stop.

_'Maybe her magic will protect her?'_ Asuka whispered. _'Symmetry and all that.'_

Running on the floor was too slow, too inefficient. He was leaping from wall to wall now, throwing himself across corridors.

_'Not this time! Not again...! I will protect someone! I won't let it happen...! Help me, Asuka! PLEASE! I'm-' _He then knew that Louise, panicking, tried to break her fall by putting her arms out. He felt her little fingers snap backwards from the impact. The pain was ignored under the horrible realization. The hard edge of a step approached. This could kill her. This was no practical joke. She was going to die!

_'Dammit, you're always useless. EMERGENCY RELEASE, YOU ASSHOLES! Burn that leftover magic! YOU -WANT- THIS WORLD TO -DIE-?'_

The fire coming out the boy's left hand turned purple, then an unreal black flame. _'There_.' He could follow the trail that linked their souls. He could hear a distant, trickling sound shaping invisible history. He pulled into the main hall and saw Louise hanging in mid-air, her legs up higher than her head, her panties exposed, and just about to crack open her skull. All was silent and still except for the Sound of Waters Under Earth.

_'You realize that if you catch her at this speed, you're liable to just snap her neck, right?'_

_"Handle it!'_

_'Man, you're pushy today.' _She kinda liked it.

Bam! Shinji's slammed his right foot into the floor, leaving a deep imprint, and threw himself through the distance. Magic forced its way through his body. The Sound of Waters Under Earth began to fade- the influence of the Perfect Shield that can stop anything, including Time, it began to curl into itself and rot. Carefully opening his arms, he slid under and had her fall into his arms. Her shocked eyes met his frantic, fearful ones. She felt so tiny, so helpless in his arms. Her life was so fragile. All human life could be snuffed so easily, a warrior's death as irrevocable as any infant's. Rude, self-interested, ignorant about her weakness- and so very cute in her earnest emotions. A precious little girl.

He grimaced, and his torso jerked as his spine slammed into the hard edges of the steps. Stone crumbled. The two slid down, Louise shrieking as her familiar served as unto an impromptu snowboard. She put her arms over her face.

"She gets to -_**live**_-." Louise heard him growl. "I _refuse _to -_**let**_- her die."

There was a loud crack as the boy's head met the floor and his neck snapped. Blood spurted out his ears. He heard a distant, whistling noise. The Sound of A Million Years. The Perfect Spear that can pierce anything, even the Boundary between Life and Death. They slid across the the exquisite white marble-tiled floor, leaving a long ragged gash.

"Urrgh." Louise felt as if chisels were chipping away at her head from the inside. Slowly, she opened her eyes. She was alive. She saw Shinji's bloodied face. He saved her life, even after what happened that afternoon. His eyes were closed. His chest wasn't moving. She tried to pull free from his grip to touch his face. "H-hey... are you..." _'Are you alive?' _she could not say it, she was numbed with terror even at the possibility. _'He can't die. He'd promised...!' _"S-say something. You..."

She tried to get up but was forced back into the embrace. She felt a hand stroke her hair, right behind her neck, and pressed into his chest she was relieved to hear a heartbeat. Strange. She felt so warm. So safe. _'This is kinda nice.' _He continued to stroke her long, silken pink hair. She was blushing, though realizing how inappropriate it was for the situation. Her fingers tingled, and she clutched at hem of his suit.

"Are you okay?" _'I'm sorry! Don't leave my side anymore!_' she wanted to shout. Another part of her was terrified, she could no longer afford any more reagents. Would she need to beg for a loan or write back to her father?

"I'll be fine." Shinji whispered back, with his eyes still closed. "Are you hurt?"

"No..." It was incredible. One moment, she thought she was going to die, and in the next- her eyes drooped. So warm.

"That's good."

Unknown moments passed, as their breaths and heartbeats matched. Louise wiggled a bit, snuggling into the embrace.

After a while, Louise's eyes suddenly shot open._ 'What am I doing?' _She wiggled a bit more. "Hey, how long are you planning on holding me like this? I'm fine now!"

Shinji's grip tightened. "I'm not. Shut up for a while, my noisy master." He kissed the top of her head. "I'm... so happy you're safe. Please. Let me stay like this for a while."

Louise looked up, saw his intensely adoring expression, and blushing quickly looked away again. "Um... thank you, by the way."

"It's okay. I'll never let anything hurt you. Never. You will -_**live**_-." Or this world will -_**burn**_-.

_'I did it. I did it. I did it.'_ Shinji's whole body burned as the shell tried to repair itself. He felt hungry. Louise's scent was wondrous, calming, triumphant, delicious.

_'I can hear both your thoughts, you know.' _Asuka said offhand. _'You're both selfish pricks.'_

_'Is She gone?'_

_'Yes, She's asleep again. Dammit, baka Shinji. Stop scaring us like that.'_

_'I'm sorry. It's just... oh, I'm so -weak-. I couldn't help it.'_

_'Stupid, stupid Third Child! You're the one that wants to kill her. You're the one that wants to return to the Silence. You can't save her from yourself.'_

_'I know. But...'_ Tears clouded his eyes._ 'I want to -pretend-... I want to pretend I'm not me for a while. Please. Let me kill my Self for a little while.' _Moping around was still better in all respects than eating worlds, right? He held onto Louise as if the air itself would reduce her. _'I don't know what to do... so let me not do anything.'_

ị

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And he stood there, against the darkening sky, carefully cleaning the blood off that tiny, weak little body that was tying to cry but was having difficulty even making a noise, holding her and trying to keep her warm, feeling her breathing start to slow down against his neck, until it finally stops, and her body grows cold, and he has to put her down and just _**SCREAM**_.

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_'You let them get to you, idiot.'_ Asuka spat savagely, while blinking away tears. _'You just -had- to acknowledge her existence. There's no trap that can hold you, except one you make yourself.' _She put a hand over her womb. _'Always so predictable. Always so stupid. That's the one death that was never your sin- we never blamed you.'_

_'We never got to name her, Asuka.'_

_'As long as we don't, she's free, and will forever exist in potentia.' _Asuka bit her lip. _'This pathetic little aristocrat, this will lead nowhere but to more suffering._'

_'I can't- I'm sorry... I'm tired. I can't run away anymore.'_

In silence, they remained there for quite a while. Unsure, afraid of what may happen in the future, they tried to make the present seem timeless. On the higher floor, hidden in the shadow of a pillar, orange serpentine eyes blinked. It looked from the damage to the staircase to the oddly intimate scene below. Huffing out a small throatful of smoke, and with a narrowed faintly hostile gaze, it slid back into the hall.

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* * *

This feels it should have been longer, but I cut out several other scenes with Gendo and open angsting as just so much padding. Anyways, there we have it. A little more emphasis on the Crazy part of Crazy Awesome. -Now- I'm really going to leave this fic alone. Even in (waves hands around) _in potentia,_ we get just how -_fucked_- this world and all its weird rules and magical persuasions will be if they actually manage to truly Piss Off this Shinji Ikari. ;)

-Bpen


	3. Chapter 3: Spring

I

I

I

**Points of Familiarity**

Chapter three

i

i

i

Louise slept. Her expression flickered now and then, but of whatever dreams she may be having, Shinji had no interest. He stared out at the night, and the two moons. One blue, one red. It was a world full of magic, and yet still a part of him wondered how two moons could have different colors. Were they large enough to contain their own atmospheres? He took a deep breath of the cold night air. "It's a nice night." he whispered. He reached out with both hands, and through the trick of perspective put his hands over the moons as if he could drag them down.

The boy's hands trembled. Snarling, he turned away. He didn't know, there was just the chance that he -could- pull them down. "What am I doing here?" he spat. He struck at the wall behind him and was rewarded with a hot flash of pain running up the back of his hand. The stone cracked.

He looked down at his shaking hands. "Is this really it...? I went through so much just to become some noble brat's plaything...?" He looked up. "Is it really that easy...? I'm that easily swayed by a pretty face? This is pathetic. I'm pathetic." He dropped to his knees, closed his eyes and put his hands over his ears. "Asuka, tell me what to do. Insult me. Hate me. Please... where are you? Don't leave me alone. Asuka! I'm scared, Asuka..."

_'The Well of Souls is not there for your convenience, Third Child. Did you really think there would be no penalty for such shameless pilfering?'_

"What is this...? Father?" Shinji opened his eyes and looked around. The room was gone, though Luise in her bed was just a short distance away. A multitude of eyes watched from the darkness. "Are you going to stand in my way again? I'm not afraid of you anymore! You don't control me!"

_'Foolish boy. You will fail. As I have failed.' _Gendo stood in the middle of the hallway, with his hands in the pockets of a white NERV lab coat. _'This behaviour will lead nowhere but to more destruction.'_

"I'm not you! You spent your whole life running to and from things. I'll stop it! Here!"

_'I do not run. I... Ride.'_

"Oh gods you're still going on about that." Shinji palmed his face. "What did mother ever see in you anyway?"

_'Beneath that academic exterior is a truly frightening fangirl. But enough about that.' _Gendo cough into his fist, trying not to look embarrassed. _'This is for your own good. You can leave, right now, while the chains are still weak. You are the greatest danger to her. Save her and the world from the truth of what you are.'_

Shinji turned to look at Louise's sleeping face. The young mage clutched at a pillow, and murmured something. He looked down at his hands again. They were still shaking.

_'It will be painless. It will be a mercy compared to what is to come. Do you deny this...?'_

He imagined it. Without her wand, Louise was no more than any other human caught helpless in her delusion of security. He could almost feel it, her nubile body writhing beneath him, her screams muffled by the pillow on her face. Her fingers would claw away in futility, trying to get free, until slowly her struggling slackens. He was ashamed, but could not ignore that the thought... excited him. It would be so easy. And he would be free again.

Shinji grit his teeth. "N-no. Where I go, there's nothing but pain. Life is pain." He looked up. "But I'm through running away. This is MY life, not yours!"

_'Then stop your whining and start living up to your childish boasts! If all you're going to do is to stand around in indecision, you might as well sink back into the Red Earth!_' Gendo pushed his glasses up and glared at his son._ 'You won't escape the consequences of your actions this time, Third Child. No other random omnipotent being can just wave its hand and solve all your problems.'_

The boy shivered and hugged himself. "I understand..."

_'Sohryu has her own issues. There is still the matter of your punishment.' _

Someone stepped out from behind Gendo. He too wore glasses, which glinted in the lightless void. _'Yo, Ikari. Been a while, yeah?'_ Kensuke Aida waved cheerfuly. A wide grin was on his face. He wore military fatigues.

"Oh you have got to be kidding me." Shinji muttered.

_'Oh, don't be like that, buddy. I've got a great idea this time. It'll help!'_

"I hate you all. Seriously."

_'Remember, you brought this on yourself.'_

i

i

With the sunrise, it was a full week since Shinji Ikari was summoned. Morning brought with it new weirdness. The staff were puzzled by the set of footprints sunk deep into the stone, and an entirely missing wall. Mr. Colbert lightly leapt through the perfectly round hole. On the other side was Mrs. Chevreuse , the new Earth Magic teacher. "This was certainly not done with any Fire spell." he said, touching the glassy edge of the hole. "Only searing heat could make a cut this smooth, but there are no signs of scorching anywhere. And even the finest Fire spell can't just destroy all matter." His voice dropped a fraction from an unpleasant memory. "There should be ashes at least."

Mrs. Chevreuse waved her wand and tried to pull out some of the bricks. After a few moments of the wall next to it bulging out, she flicked her hand and put it back to shape. "Even for a Square-class mage, there would be at least be pebbles and cracks in the mortar. Where did the stone go?" She could understand if it was some other shape, bricks being pulled out to form a golem or something like it. Earth magic didn't create matter out of nothing, but, like as Guiche's own Valkyries, molded themselves out of raw material. It was a fairly advanced form of Transfiguration. This was something simpler, and yet at the same time more difficult. "The only thing I can think of is one absurdly powerful cleaning spell. It's the only thing that makes sense!"

"I agree. Not heat, nor force or even removal of the stones. Any other spell trying to blast through should have marked the other wall, not just this one." Mr. Colbert rubbed his shiny bald pate. "I'm almost starting to think this wasn't done with magic at all."

"There's no need to be snide." the round-faced woman said dismissively. "Well, at least there's not too much damage." She waved her wand and easily fixed the gaping hole. "I've got classes soon, please handle the rest of it, Mister Colbert."

Colbert just sighed. He held an important piece of the mystery, Gandalfr's identity, but that only raised even more questions. It was not the only mysterious thing that arrived overnight. What wasn't dug out was blown up in the courtyard outside. How did all of that ever escape notice, even if happened deep at night? There should have been noise. He scratched at his chin and wondered just how far he could take the Headmaster's order of 'just observe'. He was a Fire mage, and despite his bland exterior he still held on to the warm light of discovery. He didn't like being left in the dark.

i

i

Tristain Academy was more than just a school. It taught the art and logic of magic, but was also made to allow young nobles to form the connections that would serve them later in life. As Shinji Ikari walked around while Louise was in her classes, he pondered how this 'magical college' could help him. As a familiar, he was little more than an unpaid butler. Inevitably his wanderings took him closer to the kitchen. He needed training. His fingers itched. He needed knives.

"Why?" he was asked. Marteau, for once, was not going about in overexpressed joy. "We're quite busy here. We don't have the time to let a novice run loose in our kitchen."

"An even trade, Marteau-san. I'll show you my recipes from the East and you or your apprentices teach me how to cook some simple dishes and re-train my skills."

"But will we even have ingredients for them?" As a chef, Marteau was hardly ignorant of the importance of geography. Tristain's larder was well-stocked, but even he had to choose carefully his menu according to seasonal availability and difficulty of preparation. More exotic ingredients were harder to acquire, and their freshness could not be guaranteed. His standards were high. While he was feeling good-natured enough to grant such a simple request, his own pride as a chef would not allow someone to give up halfway.

Shinji nodded. Just as colors and technique made up a painting, ingredients were just one part of what made true cuisine. He knew thousands of recipes, that was one memory that was not denied him.

It brought Kensuke, his current overwatching personality, to consternation. He was given one free skillset, and instead of sword and martial arts styles or taking from the knowledge of every strategist that ever lived, Shinji had chosen to become some sort of cooking master boy. How could that help anything?

Shinji had no money. Even if he wanted to cook, there was no way of getting his hands on the instruments and ingredients except by borrowing them. Or stealing them outright, but he was trying to be lawful and neutral about things. No need to complicate things. Despite constant subconscious demands to act cool and impress the chicks, the boy still preferred to hide from sight. He had power, but none of the skill. As he quickly cut through lean meat, he ignored how occasionally a leg of mutton would flash in his perceptions as a human arm, or that a dressed turkey would become a skinned human head. Kensuke, as expected, was useless in stopping this sort of thing from happening. Shinji focused instead on the smells and the sounds of the kitchen. His hands knew what they had to do. With his knives and from dead things he made living art.

Siesta was delighted, of course. The kitchen crew were at first just wary and tolerant of mistakes, then gradually their attentions turned to approval and even awe. For some reason, in his hands all knives became impossibly sharp. He could cut through bone as easily as apples. Marteau saw the practiced efficiency of muscle training. No chef could be that sure and precise with his slices unless he had trained himself so thoroughly that putting his mind to the task would actually slow down the process and make mistakes more likely. He soon moved on to helping them directly in day-to-day activities. It felt like cheating, to the boy, but he had to admit there was no point in hiding from his inhumanity. A world was murdered for his benefit, trying to deny that would not fix anything. Covered by a white glove, no one could see the glowing of the familiar runes.

Shinji took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He was a sweating cook, trying to feed an army of Zhou, and. He was a street vendor of noodles in Spanish Manila, cutting strips of wet noodle with scissors while brown-faced children watched giggling. He bringing out sake for a salaryman with only this brief time to himself before heading home. Siesta watched, wide-eyed, as he flicked the dough into the air, stretching it between his hands, and slamming it into flour-sprinkled table.

"I've always thought pasta was a Romalian recipe." the maid commented lightly.

"No, it was brought in from the East five hundred years ago. Some kind of merchant got shipwrecked and took ten years to get back." Marteau replied, still carefully observing the boy's skill.

Shinji opened his eyes. "From what I know, there was a man named Marco Polo."

"Hm... it sounds familiar, but I don't think that's him."

Shinji shrugged and made a mental note to look it up in the library. Then, getting an insistent urge, he looked to Siesta. "It's an old story where I come from. Would you like to hear of Marco Polo and his visit to the great court of Kublai Khan?"

"Yes, please!" the young woman nodded. Her expression was hungry. Every day she visited the kitchen, begging away from all her other work in the castle and running up favors with her co-workers, just so she could sit and assemble whatever little personal tibits that dropped from the boy as he worked. It was perfectly obvious to everyone there. This was someone that desperately needed a friend, and it would be tragic if a conniving noble would see and take advantage of such a helpless innocent. The joy in his face as he worked, it was easy to understand. At such moments time itself fades away and all memories are forced aside by the focus of the deed.

_'He's opening up to us.'_ the maid thought, with her own sense of desperation. It was like watching a flower bloom. It was all so very fragile. Her heart ached the inevitability of someone who already suffered so much being crushed under by selfish nobles. It was bad enough that he was the familiar of one. Louise barely had any power as a noble. She would not be able to protect him. The best protection a commoner had was in being ignored. The boy's face was excited, his tone rolling with a Romalian accent, as if he was that man kneeling before the Great Khan. _'That won't happen now. That noble... she's too self-centered, she'll want him on display to reflect a little glory back on her face.' _

Siesta wanted to protect him, but she had no power of her own. She was happy to be around him, and she wanted to cry.

ii

"Why are you smiling?" Louise asked, as she dipped into her crab and mushroom soup.

"No reason. Is it good?"

"So-so." the young mage replied, not really caring. Never having tasted anything but the most luxurious of foods, she had no point of comparison.

Shinji turned to his own meal. The other students were pretending that there was no such thing as a commoner actually eating at their table. The far end where Louise sat might as well have been another world. Shinji looked around and frowned. Louise could use a friend, at the very least it meant she wouldn't be too inquisitive at what occupied his free time. He was getting into a comfortable routine, but he could feel it... neither of them still fulfilled anything. They were just counting the days, going with the flow. It was the school daze.

That was unacceptable. He refused to believe that he was called forth from his own self-imposed demise just to serve as some noble girl's servant. It was really not that bad. He could be content with just that, but he had a lifetime's experience of nothing good ever happening. It was not paranoia as much as an inevitability. He was afraid. He was afraid of nothing, ironic as that may be. Just waiting for things to go horribly, horribly wrong was even more nerve-wracking than running around in panic trying to do damage control.

i

i

It was indeed a sleepy, humdrum day in Tristain Academy. At the Headmaster's Office, Miss Longueville the secretary was busily writing. Old Osmond had led the Academy for so long that he had mastered how to limit the paperwork that actually reached his office. As Headmaster this involved a hands-off approach to administration and a whole lot of delegation. Miss Longueville supposed that over the years most people just realized asking the old man to work on paperwork was just futile.

Since Osmond had outlived most of his contemporaries, it wasn't as if he had much personal correspondence that required a secretary's attention. She stopped writing for a moment and glanced over at the sequoia desk at which Sir Osmond was busy taking a nap.

The corner of Miss Longueville's lips rose in a faint smirk, an expression she had never shown anyone before. She stood up from her desk and, in a low voice, she murmured the incantation for a Spell of Tranquility. Dampening her footsteps so as not to wake Osmond, she crept out of the office.

Her destination was the floor directly below the Headmaster's Office. Stepping off the stairs, she confronted enormous iron doors. They were kept shut with a thick bolt mechanism, which in turn was secured with an equally large padlock.

This was the Academy's own Treasury. An old institution, the Academy contained various artifacts of historical, curious, and confiscated nature. There were even several artifacts that predated the castle itself. After cautiously surveying her surroundings, Miss Longueville withdrew her wand from a pocket. It was about the length of a pencil, but with a flick of the wrist, it extended to the length of an conductor's baton, which she whirled expertly.

Miss Longueville began to murmur another invocation, and complete, she pointed the baton at the padlock.

However... nothing happened. She smiled slightly. "Well, it's not like I really expected a Spell of Unbinding to work anyway."

Smiling deviously, she began reciting the words to one of her specialty spells. It was a Transmutation spell, this one reducing elements back into impure and more brittle forms. It was easier power-wise than transmuting ore into purer ingots, but at the same time requiring far more imagination and focus. Chanting loud and clear, she waved her baton at the heavy lock. The magic cascaded over it... but even after a considerable wait, there was no visible change.

"Looks like it's been magically reinforced by a Square-class mage," she muttered.

A Spell of Reinforcement was one that prevented the oxidation and decomposition of matter. Any substance that had this spell cast on it was protected from any chemical reactions, and allowed it to be preserved forever in that state. Even transmutation magic would have no effect against something protected like this. Only if one's magical skill surpassed that of the mage who cast the spell could it be overcome.

As it was, the mage who had enchanted this door was apparently an extremely powerful mage, considering that not even Miss Longueville, an expert in Earth magic and transmutation in particular, was able to affect the door.

Taking off her glasses, she stared at the door once more. At this point, she heard footsteps coming up the staircase. She shrunk down her baton and slipped it back into her pocket. Her expression shifted into the earnest but eternally overburdened assistant.

The person who appeared was Mister Colbert. "Greetings, Miss Longueville. What are you doing here?"

"Mister Colbert, I was going to catalog the contents of the treasury, but..."

"Oh, that's quite some work. It'd probably take you all day to go over each and every item. There's a lot of junk mixed together with them, and it's a rather cramped space they've been arranged in too."

"Indeed." she replied evenly. "I was just thinking about it, if it was really worth the trouble. I haven't decided yet if I should even do the paperwork to get permission."

"Why don't you just borrow the key from Old Osmond?"

The woman smiled. "Well... I didn't want to disturb his sleep. In any case, I'm in no immediate hurry to complete the catalog..."

"I see. Asleep, you say. That old man, I mean, Old Osmond, is quite a deep sleeper. It seems I shall have to visit him another time." It concerned his report from the morning, but already the teacher looked discouraged.

Mister Colbert began to walk off, but paused in his tracks. He took a deep breath, firmed his expression and turned around. "Miss Longueville?"

"I-is something the matter?" the secretary asked apprehensively.

Colbert looked slightly embarrassed as he opened his mouth to speak.

"If it would be all right, how would you like to, say... join me for lunch?" She took a moment to consider, then smiled brightly as she accepted the offer.

"Sure, it would be my pleasure."

Colbert blinked in surprise. Inwardly he was doing backflips in joy. It was no surprise that Miss Longueville was popular among the teachers. She was quite pretty and competent, and above putting up with Old Osmond's foolishness. However, while she was personable and friendly, she had often rebuffed romantic attempts by her male colleagues.

The two of them headed down the stairs. In slightly informal tones, Miss Longueville struck up conversation again "Hey, Mister Colbert."

"Y-yes? What is it?" Emboldened by how easily his invitation had been taken up, Colbert responded quite eagerly to her.

"Is anything important actually inside the treasury?" She smiled sweetly. "Despite its name, I doubt that it actually contains treasure."

"Oh, aha haha... that's true. It mostly contains artifacts and archeological documents. Although… Old Osmond does use it as his own personal vault too."

Miss Longueville's smile remained fixed. "With his long life, I'm sure Old Osmond's accumulated quite a collection of… things."

Colbert nodded, trying not to look too forward. "Despite how he looks and acts, in his day Old Osmond was quite the powerful and well-traveled mage. He's described to me several of his artifacts, but the one he's most proud of is known as the 'Staff of Destruction'."

"It sounds dangerous. What is it? Have you ever seen it?"

"Oh, yes. As a teacher of some tenure here in Tristain Academy, I've examined many magical items and artifacts. The Staff of Destruction… Old Osmond said it was able to destroy a three-headed dragon in one hit!"

"How fascinating, Mister Colbert. What does it look like?"

"Ah, that… its quite a curiously shaped item, indeed."

Miss Longueville's eyeglasses glinted. "What... kind of shape?"

"It's extremely difficult to describe, except as simply strange, yes. But never mind that, what would you like to eat? Today's menu is flounder baked in herbs... but I'm quite well-acquainted with Marteau the head chef, and I can have him make any of the world's finest delica-"

"Ahem." Miss Longueville interrupted Colbert's babbling.

"Y-yes?"

"I must say, the treasury is quite amazingly built. No matter what kind of magic is tried, it would be impossible to open, I assume?"

"That's quite right. It's impossible for just any one mage. After all, it was devised by a group of Square-class mages to resist all spells."

"I'm very impressed that you're so knowledgeable about this, Mister Colbert." She regarded him with a comfortable expression.

"Eh? Well... Haha, I just happened to come across a lot of documents pertaining to this floor, that's all... I like to consider it a part of my research, haha. Thanks to that, I'm still single at this age... yes."

"I'm sure the woman that you find will be very happy to be with you. After all, you can teach her so much about things that nobody else knows..." Miss Longueville fixed him with a contemplative look.

"Oh, no! Please don't tease me like that!"

Colbert flustered nervously as he wiped sweat from his balding forehead. Then, regaining composure, he faced her seriously.

"Miss Longueville. Have you heard of the Ball of Frigg that is being held on the day of Yule?"

"No, I haven't."

"Haha, I guess it's because you've only been in Tristain for two months. Well, it's nothing spectacular, just a party of sorts. However, it's said that a couple who dances at this ball will be destined to be together or something like that. It's just a petty legend of course! Yes!"

"So?" Smiling, she pressed him to continue.

"So... if it would be all right, I was wondering if you would dance with me, yes."

"I would love to. While ball parties are fabulous, I'd like to know more about the treasury right now. I'm quite fascinated by magical items, you see."

Wanting to further impress Miss Longueville, Colbert racked his brains. _'Treasury, treasury, she says...' _Remembering something she might find interesting, he put on an important air and started to talk.

"Ah yes, there's one thing I can tell you. Although it's not particularly important..."

"By all means, do tell."

"Certainly, the treasury is invincible against magical attacks, but I believe it has one fatal weakness."

"Oh, that's intriguing."

Colbert leaned in close and whispered dramatically. "That weakness is... physical force."

"Physical force?"

"Yes! For example, well, not that this is ever likely, but a giant golem could-"

The secretary paused, and her voice pitched up suddenly. "A giant golem?"

Colbert stated his opinion quite proudly to Miss Longueville. And once he was done talking, she couldn't help but smile in satisfaction. She bowed to him slightly, as the parted ways before reaching the main hall.

"That was most intriguing indeed, Mister Colbert." she whispered.

i

i

Some hours later and inside of the corridors connecting the pentagramic towers to the central keep of Tristain Academy's castle, two different monsters tried to stare down each other.

"Oh, Flame-san. Hello." Shinji was unsure of the proper behavior around other familiars. He could tell there was keen intelligence, beyond that of a beast, glinting in the salamander's eyes. It was not intellect as a human would understand, however. Abstract thoughts were not part of such animalistic awareness, but it seemed it could understand human speech and managed well enough from a wealth of instincts and feelings. "Do you want something?" Shinji looked down at his suit. Maybe the beast could smell the lingering aroma from the kitchen? "I don't have any treats right now..."

The salamander sniffed arrogantly, and arched its back preparing to pounce.

"For a lizard, you're too cat-like, Flame-san." Shinji said, smiling slightly. The salamander looked offended. It dropped its chin to the ground and flicked its tail up. "Uh-oh…"

The boy spun around and ran. It eagerly bounded after him down the halls.

Shinji looked back over his shoulder, and was happy at being hunted. _'Just as I thought. All that bulk, all that muscle powering its speed, but it can't change directions as quickly.' _He came to a T-section, leapt and kicked off the left wall and was soon running down the right corridor. Behind him, he heard Flame trying to control its direction, its claws digging into the stone. It came out the connecting corridor skidding, reversed, bumping lightly against the wall. With a strong flick of its tail, it launched itself back into the chase.

It was almost eight o'clock at night. Louise should be in her room. Being there would only distract her from her studies, it was not like he could help her with magical homework anyway. As Shinji ran and dodged, he exulted in the feeling of physical exertion. School days were safe and boring, it was nice to cut loose a bit once in a while.

He was not using Gandalfr's speed. Like it or not, Shinji Ikari was very good at running away. He had a runner's physique. On a straight line, the powerful muscles and stamina of the flame lizard would eventually overtake him, but the other familiar lost too much time dealing with sharp turns.

Shinji eventually came to a staircase. He could leap down to further add to the lead, but the beast might hurt itself trying to follow at high speed. He couldn't feel any hostile intent from the other familiar, anyway. The boy stopped and turned around. He got into a half-crouch, holding his left arm out with the palm up. Flame, bounding exuberantly down the corridor, slid to a stop and stared back with a slitted gaze. With their backs to the wall, the two familiars paced around each other, until it was Flame that now near the staircase and Shinji having a clear run back where he came. The boy took deep breaths as his adrenalin rush began to fade. Flame paced back and forth, its hooded head and tail held high. It displayed its powerful, agile frame. It was a tiger's physique. Shinji realized that while Flame was often called a fire lizard, he could not be sure if the beast was actually reptilian. Something that could breathe fire, could it even be cold-blooded?

Flame pounced. It struck and slid off a red shield that appeared in the air off Shinji's left arm. The boy spun around. He didn't fear the salamander. He was certain it was just playing around. As he had no natural fear of death, he also had no fear of being torn to pieces and being devoured. Without that and any desire of his own to kill or harm the creature, he was left with just the list of entertaining things to do when facing a magical beast. He had no red cloth, so he settled from jumping on its neck.

He could not resist the urge to yell "Famirya Ride-o: F-F-FLAME!"

He felt something grab his at his ankle. Like a cat, the salamander could 'stand up' resting on its back feet. He looked down to confirm that, yes, a Salamander had partly opposing thumbs and its arms could reach that far. He was yoinked off his mount and thrown into a wall. As he slid down, Flame grinned, showing its rows of sharp teeth. It huffed a plume of fire and leapt. Shinji caught the familiar with both hands, one on the top row of teeth and the other by the jaw. The much larger familiar wriggled its head, but could push no further. It was strange strength from a two-legs. Shinji could feel the building heat from the back of the salamander's throat.

"Oh, no you don't." He forced the salamander's jaws shut. Flame shot out of Flame's nostrils in two fast jets. The familiar backed off and began coughing. While unharmed by its own fires, the backlash tasted horrible. It looked up, and there was a nasty glimmer in its gaze.

The two familiars headbutted each other. "Ow!" Shinji Ikari fell on his butt, clutching his head. Surprisingly, so did Flame. It scratched at a much smaller spot, but it still stung. Its inherent magic reacted like a shorted circuit.

Shinji groaned. His body had a difficulty remembering that it was not hundreds of feet tall and weighing in the tens of thousands of tons anymore. "Not that it hasn't been fun, Flame-san, but do you have a reason for chasing me down beyond just playing around?"

The salamander nodded. Unable to form words, it tried to convey its meaning through an insistent jerk of its head and lightly biting down on Shinji's shoulder. It began to drag him off.

"Wait, you want me to come with you? Uh... okay. Let go, Flame-san! I'm not a kitten! You're not a mother cat!"

Flame opened its mouth and let him drop to the ground. It then licked his face.

"Euurgh!" the boy moaned, aghast. He touched goopy saliva on his face. He was regretting now not following the advice of always having a towel on his person. He resolved never to make that mistake again.

i

i

Kirche blinked and her vision returned to own natural sight. She licked her lips and shivered. As she had expected, her latest target was more than just any of the pack of amorous nobles that followed her around. No magic, but then in Germania magic was not a prerequisite to being a noble. There were those who bought their titles with wealth, and those who earned their place with sheer force of will. She giggled in expectation. Not yet a man, but she knew very few men who would be willing to fight a salamander with their bare hands. How primitive. How barbaric. Halkeginia thought Germanians were little more than barbarians. They who valued caution over all virtues did not understand what it meant to put everything into claiming one's desires. "Mmmm."

It might be too late to introduce the boy to the world of sexual experience, but such bravery needed to be... rewarded. She had enough of effeminate, easily cowed Tristainians. There was no challenge, no fire to it. She made sure that they would not be interrupted, sealing off the windows and a magical lock ready to be activated on the door.

All the way back up to the tower dormitory. "But I was just here..." the boy whined from beyond the door. "Oh? This is Kirche-san's room." Flame snorted and pushed the door open with its snout. The room was dark. With no other choice, Shinji went inside.

"Um.. hello?"

"Close the door." went Kirche's voice from the darkness.

Doing so turned the room pitch-black again. Shinji pondered _'Query: Night vision?_' and got back _'Denied. Wait for your eyes to get used to it like any normal person'_.

With a snap of her fingers, lamps lit up on their own. Starting from the ones nearest him, the lights one by one drew gaze up to Kirche lying on the bed. He gulped.

She was dressed in sheer lingerie, her pose was seductive, but there was a faintly worried expression on her face. "Don't just stand there." Kirche patted the bed near her. "Sit and relax a bit."

Nervously, Shinji did as he was told. He carefully kept his eyes up to Kirche's face, avoiding the captivating sight of her nearly nude body. She frowned. "You're not exactly what I was expecting." the young noblewoman said carefully.

"I'm sorry?"

Kirche sighed heavily,causing her cantaloupe-sized breasts to jiggle in interesting ways. "You must think I'm a despicable woman, don't you?"

In truth, he had never really thought about it at all. He had no interest in the nobles, and without Asuka's insistence had no enthusiasm for figuring out how their studies could help his own situation. "Um... no, not really?"

"Don't be afraid." she whispered. Kirche reached out to trail a finger across his cheek. "Now, don't hesitate. Do you know why I called you here?"

"I don't really know." he replied sheepishly, though by how still and statue-like he sat while Kirche played with the lines of his face, he had an inkling.

"You don't trust me." she said flatly. "I suppose I can't blame you, if what you know of nobles come from Guiche and Louise and those commoners at the kitchen. We're not all like that." She grabbed him by the collars and pulled him down to eye level. "Some of us want to see... heroes rewarded for their bravery." Kirche breathed into his face.

The boy flinched. "A hero?" He frowned slightly. "I don't deserve to be called that, Kirche-san." _'To call me that is an insult to every hero that ever existed!'_

"But you are! When I saw you out there, it was like watching a hero straight out of the legends. And..." here she leaned over conspiratory manner to whisper into his ear "... I saw what you were willing to do for Louise. That girl, she has no idea how much you really -care-. If she won't reward you for your dedication, then I will."

"That's okay, I don't really expect much. You... why are you doing this, Kirche-san?"

Kirche smiled at the edge of anger in his voice. Now that was more like it. "To be thought as lowly, conniving woman... it's inevitable. Do you underestand? My runic name is 'the Ardent'."

"Uhm... I know that, but, I'm sorry. I don't understand."

"I burn, my dear. My lust is flammable as hay. That's why I called you here. Do you get it yet? Is that really so bad of me?"

"Ugh. Aha. Abebebe..." Shinji rubbed at the back of his head and smiled weakly. He had no idea of how to deal with being thought of as an object of raw sexual desire. 'Disgusting' was one the pet names Asuka tended to use. It was not like they had much choice in their pick of partners. "No... I don't think that's bad, but..."

"Oh, you forgive me?" She looked at him with moist, watery eyes. She looked so vulnerable in her naked yearning.

"There's nothing to forgive, Kirche-san." The boy was trying to inch away. Kirche suddenly clasped his hands within hers, lacing their fingers together. "Um... please? I'm not really much good with... this sort of thing?"

"That doesn't matter. I am a detestable woman, but it can't be helped. It's improper, it's sudden, but it's true. My dear... I love you."

Shinj flinched. _'Okay, that's it. I've had enough.'_ He shot back to his feet and off the bed. Angrily he stomped back towards the door.

"Stop." Kirche called out softly. "Don't go. Those eyes... I've seen those before. You're just so _lonely,_ aren't you?" He was so quiet, so focused. That reminded her intensely of another precious person. Many lived lives of silent despair. So what if more 'proper' people called her nasty names? She was happy in her choice. She was happy to reduce in her own way the amount of sadness in the world. "What's wrong with just putting it down for a while? Let the pain go for a while..."

"It's YOU who doesn't understand." he spat back. "I'm not your plaything, Kirche-san. This was cruel of you, and I forgive you, but don't try it again."

Kirche shook her head, her face still serious."When I saw you... at that moment, I fell in love. This is passion! Passionate love! You're worthy of being loved!"

The boy grimaced again. "I don't... you can't be serious. Kirche-san, please stop."

"My runic name, the Ardent, is the flower of passion. I've been writing love songs in my mind, I've been dreaming of you since that day. That's why I've been sending Flame to see how you were doing. I saw... your face when alone, I want to wipe that sadness!" Kirche squealed and put her palms to her face. Girlishly she turned away, showing her shoulder profile. "I'm so embarrassed, but it's true! It's love, I say! It's all because of you."

Shinji clenched his fists. "You keep on saying love as if it's not meant to hurt." he said without turning around.

Kirche got up off her bed, trailing her satin sheets like a cape. She walked over and draped her arms around his neck, wrapping herself around him like a cloak. The feel of her breasts around his head made the boy's face burn. "I won't hurt you. I **love **you. Let me take it away..."

Shinji snarled and turned around. "How dare y- gahk!" That was a mistake, for that just gave Kirche the chance to push his face into her breasts. He had to lever his hands into the tiny gap between their bodies and gave a shove. The older noble shrieked in feigned fear as she stumbled and landed flat on her back. "Will you stop tha-.. guh!"

Kirche gave him a sultry smile and spread her legs a little wider. She lifted a slim arm and pointed. "Well, at least I know you're not a _Mannliebhaber._"

The boy blushed and turned around again to hide his erection. "T-that doesn't mean anything!"

"What are you afraid of? Is it... Louise? Just tell me your heart is owned by Louise and I'll stop." Kirche got up, and her voice lost that sultry tone. She didn't look quite as sad as her voice implied, but rather held a satisfied smile that he couldn't see. "It's my principle, you should know. I won't take what isn't mine to have. Although I follow the philosophy of "Do whatever it takes to get what I want," I'd never take what's most important to someone."

_'My pain is important to me.' _Shinji wanted to say, but she wouldn't understand. "My heart is not for you, Kirche-san."

"Really? You can't keep it closed forever, that's not healthy. Will you give Louise the key to it, then?"

Shinji clenched his jaws again, and whispered. "No..."

"You've got fire in you, I can tell."

"You're playing a dangerous game here, Kirche-san."

The young noblewoman laughed. "I know! Isn't that great? Louise doesn't think of you as her most important thing. It's her pride that's most important. If I ever wanted to take someone's most important thing, then I'd be ready to fight for it! A passionate affair that turns all life to ash and burns everything to the ground."

Shinji faced her again, and sighed. "I can't say that's not admirable in its own way, but what if I want to be just left alone?"

"No one _really_ wants to be alone." she replied. She thought of silent, unperturbable Tabitha. Just because one was quiet doesn't mean one wasn't hurting. "I mean it. I love you... and all of you. Don't try to hide from me. Let it burn through you, it's not so bad."

"You.. fall in love far too easily."

Kirche blushed and looked away, the comment hit her weak spot. "Yeah... I guess I have more passion that others. That can't be helped. Love is so sudden, and burns through my body so quickly."

"Is that really love, though?"

"Of course it is! Even if you move on from me... I won't ever forget the affection and the meaning of the times we shared."

Shinji looked pained. He gave her a sad grimace. "I don't trust being able to say it's love so easily. I think... I could grow to despise people like you."

"Noo...!" Kirche moaned. "Don't say that!" It was the risk she willingly chose to take. "This isn't a trick. I can see that you need it... let my body teach you how to let go. Trust me, it's is a song offered as a gift to worthy men."

_'Asuka... come back! Kensuke's advice is stupid and useless.'_ And, as expected,quite obvious. The glasses-wearing teen never had a chance to grow up._ 'Wait... what did she just say?'_ He looked up and took in Kirche's deep red hair, her tall tan frame, her full red lips and dark amber eyes. She was from Germania, but her looks...? Why would she have a natural tan in land of long winters?

"You... you've got Rumanesca blood, don't you?" he whispered.

Kirche looked shocked. The actual Halkeginian word was different, but the truth of it carried through. It was as if there was a twang in the air between them, of things locking into place. "The- the last of the Old Blood was lost centuries ago. We don't even have legends anymore. But I guess part of my family did come from deeper inside Halkeginia."

"Walacssia..." the boy breathed. The map of Halkeginia differed greatly from that of Europe; Italy was a little further east than Romalia, and the entire Iberian peninsula was missing from the continent. The British Isles were larger than many expected, and its absence was significant, specially on climate conditions. Some things just felt the same however.

"Oh, you know?" Kirche nodded approvingly. "It's from before the Elves put a barrier to the Holy Land."

"Blood calls to blood. No wonder you felt so familiar..." Shinji began to chuckle, and the lamplights began to dim. Puzzled, Kirche took a few steps back. The room suddenly felt colder, somehow.

"H-hey, you said you're from the East too, right?"

_'What's this? Who are you?' _the boy asked as the silvered moon cast its reflection upon the Well of Souls.

"Legends lost... have they forgotten the Son of the Dragon? In this world, was there no one who took up the cross against the Turk? Did the Romensa flee from the sound of his voice?" His voice echoed oddly. He stepped forward, and Kirche gave an 'ooh!' of surprise as she felt hands clutch at her breasts. "I must admit, these are impressive. But girl; _he who willingly gives you one finger will also give you the whole hand_."

The lights went out and there was the sound of a meaty smack in the dark.

The door opened, and the boy's silhouette showed in the gap. "I'm sorry, Kirche-san. I don't hate you at all... but being with me might make your fire go out. Thank you, but I'm not... worthy of anything. Please be more careful.."

The door shut again with a decisive click. In the dark, Kirche lay sprawled on the floor, unsure of what to feel. Shocked, certainly. Fearful, no question. Very aroused, that was strange but true. She began to giggle and slapped her palms down on the hard stone floor. That was unexpected. Her charm had never failed her before!

A fun challenge, a dangerous game!

She laughed as she touched her cheek. If he thought this was supposed to dissuade her, he was being an idiot. It was giving her exactly the very excitement she'd been missing in Tristania. She was a von Zerbst, leaving early from her studies in Vindobona Magical Academy in Germania, and had fled to Tristania to avoid being married off to some old Marquis. Once she took a liking to something, she did all she could to get it. Being rebuffed on her own terms was never going to work. The boy thought he could dictate the terms of the chase? She grinned. It was just adding more fuel to the flame.

As a woman, she had her own pride. She was angry, she wanted to burn him, but that had shown more spine than all the Tristanian nobles she'd met all combined. _'Ohohoho. My fire... will melt that cold lump of rock you call your heart!'_

i

Shinji exited Kirche's room just in time to see Louise with her hand on the doorknob of her own room, freshly having returned from searching worriedly for her familiar. "Crap." the boy muttered.

i

i

Louise, like most nobles, kept a diary. It was a habit encouraged to let them reflect upon their deeds and thoughts for the day and confirm if they gave meaning to their lives. For many, it was their only road to posterity, and filled their journals with blatant self-propagada to deny their otherwise uninspiring days spent in self-indulgence. Louise was too terrified to even think of trying to write like that. Her upbringing under a domineering mother and just slightly less fearsome eldest sister, who had no compuction about breaking security charms just to make sure she was even _thinking _like a proper young lady, ensured she kept her true thoughts and feelings to herself. Even far from them she could not do it. Her thoughts whirled around, she couldn't put them to paper and out of her mind.

She couldn't focus on her studies. Magical terms shifted back into _'Why?'_ and how good it felt to be held. In many ways her father was an ideal nobleman patriarch: wise, patient, and aloof. Not since she was a child had she been in a man's arms like that. Cattleya, her kind older sister, was the only one who dared show her any affection these days.

_'Why did he do it? Does he... like me?' _In one moment sheer terror, in another- bliss. Appearing out of nowhere, sweeping her up like some heroine outside of the legends. Louise hated feeling so weak and helpless, she had enough of that from home. She had no power. With him by her side, she felt beyond all worldy worries.

She forced herself to put down her quill. Her hands were shaking too much. Something to be protected. Like a child. That was an insult, an insult! And part of her hated that it felt so good. He was a commoner! A commoner! But there were also plenty of stories that had princes masquerading as peasants.

Louise looked to the corner where he slept. The hay from the first day was gone, replaced with an old but serviceable thick wool carpet. A pillow and a blanket, and that was it. That was poor reward for someone who saved her life. She could hardly believe she'd forgotten about that last night.

That was the problem. Again _'Why?' _Was it just the magic of the familiar bond? It was only natural that commoners serve nobles, but if it was just that it was his job... Louise felt hollow. For every bit of reserved politeness he showed, there were also moments where he revealed hints of actual fondness. Irritating! Holy mixed signals, guy who dresses like a bat! Kirche had it easy, she just had to throw her chest out a bit, and men would come running. Absently, Louise realized she was imitating that pose while sitting down. She blushed and put her arms over her chest. It was... lacking in impact. She was glad that her familiar wasn't around.

Her arrogance and her pitiful magic talent made sure Louise had practically no experience whatsoever in matters of love. She only had rumors and stories to guide her expectations.

_'Where is he, anyway?' _Giving the excuse of not 'being a distraction' to her studies, the boy often had two hours to himself before returning and helping her prepare for bed. It was near past time for that. Louise looked to the book on her desk. It was useless anyway, she couldn't focus. Maybe she too needed a walk to clear her head, and maybe she could get some answers too. A part of her wished for the happy accident of meeting him outside and maybe talking under the moonlight.

Two people side by side, alone in the dark, watching the stars... how romantic. She tried not to think too hard about that.

While loudly proclaiming inside her head that it was not about that, her irritation built up as she failed to find him. She'd even gone all the way down into the kitchen, but it was closed. She had to walk all the back to the dormitory tower. It was a familiar who should be trotting along after his master, not the other way around! She was already in a bad mood when she returned, resolving to snub him for quite a while when he got back from whatever hole he was hiding in.

Hole. In. These two words stuck in her mind as she saw Shinji Ikari come out of Kirche's bedroom.

i

i

A few minutes later had him sitting on the floor in a seiza position while Louise conducted her interrogation. "L-like a stray dog in heat! What were you doing in Kirche's room?" Louise brandished a whip she found somewhere. "And if you say 'gathering information' I'll use this on you!"

Shinji just sighed. "I was trying to resist her attempts to seduce me, Louise-sama."

She actually growled. If her hair could rise from the back of her neck, she would be howling by then. _'This... shameless pervert!'_ "So you admit it!"

"Admit what? I've haven't been here long, but it's already obvious that Kirche is the type who tries to make men her playthings." He made a face. "I don't have time for that."

Louise was not yet mollified. "Oh, you don't, do you? Yeah, that's right! Maybe you need more chores to make sure!"

"Please, my Noble Master, nothing happened."

"You're lying! Lies! Filthy lies!" The pink-haired girl swung with her whip. It lashed a red mark against the boy's cheek. He shut his eyes reflexively, but otherwise did not react.

"Torture is not a reliable method of gathering intelligence, you know." he warned cooly. "Most people will just agree to anything to stop the pain. Why are you so angry about this, anyway?"

Louise was shaking. Commoners needed to know their place. A noble had to act according to her station. It was something her mother had said: "_There is no lesson as easy to remember as pain._" Doing that, she'd expected to feel a rush of power, but it was as if she'd struck herself.

Those eyes...! Always he looked as if he could see into her soul. There was no satisfaction. Instead, blind overwhelming fear. Aching moments passed, which had Louise trying to get her thundering heart under control while Shinji just looked bored about it all. It was as if it was all beneath even his contempt.

Louise inched backwards. She'd done it. He hated her now. She wanted to curl up and cry, but forced it all down with an angry look on her face and shouting louder. "You're a dog wagging your tail on that Zerbst bitch! What's so good about her, huh? I don't know what I ever saw in..." Louise clapped her hands over her mouth.

Shinji sighed. "If you want to hit me to feel better, go ahead. I kind of gathered there's some sort of rivalry between you and Kirche."

Louise looked at the horse whip in her hand, a long thin flexible rod with a looped strip of leather on the end. She raised her hand to strike again, but couldn't find any strength. She looked up at the red welt on his face and his completely placid expression and couldn't keep the tears at bay anymore. "You...why are you making me do this? I didn't... I didn't mean to!"

"Louise-sama, please. I. Don't. Care. Just tell me what this is about."

She could feel his cold disdain for her excuses. _'I'm a nasty person!' _the girl wailed inside. Her mother's punishments replayed in her mind, and this sort of stoic indifference was the proper reaction to such corrections. She'd tried to keep the facade, but always afterwards she'd run to her middle sister's side to start crying. It was supposed to help her grow, but there just bitterness and fear._ 'He's... he's not going to fear me, no matter what, is he? Am I that -weak-? Or... he's strong. He's strong enough to be -loyal-.'_

Louise dropped the whip and sat down facing him. Her face was screwed up, pouting and trying to keep the tears from showing.

"Oh gods." the boy groaned. He had to reach out and pinch Louise's cheeks.

"Hey, wha- do fuu hink yoor dohin?"

"You're just so -**cute**-, Louise-sama." Shinji grinningly said. "You're so cute it's like I want to -_break_- you."

"Hu asshul. Ow!"

"What was that?"

"Ahm horry. I fed ahm horry!"

Louise rubbed at her cheeks when he let go. She glared angrily up her familiar, and was surprised to see a delighted twinkle in his eyes. She felt her cheeks heating up. Looking at her, appreciating only her, laughing at her. Amazing how shame could feel so good. "I keep forgetting... you're just fifteen years old, aren't you? I can't... as long as it's not Kirche!"

Shinji scratched at the side of his cheek. He was lost in this tangled mire of human emotions. It was not like he could read minds. "Um.. Louise-sama, if you want this to be an abusive relationship, then I can play that game too. But I won't accept punishments that are... arbitrary? At least tell me what it is that I did wrong."

Louise took deep calming breaths. '_A soldier. Right. If he fought in a war, he shouldn't be unfamiliar with being punished. Okay. Okay. Louise, stay calm. Try to make it look like you had a reason.' _It would keep her pride and her stature in his eyes. _'What would father say?'_

"It's her usual tactics. Kirche goes with many different guys at once and likes to see them fighting. If you keep on going after Kirche, tomorrow you'll be run through by ten nobles. Is that all right to you?"

"No, actually. Louise-sama, please believe me, -**nothing- **happened."

Louise looked into his eyes. "I believe you."

"But that's not really what this is about, is it?"

Louise winced. That was her weak spot. "It's unacceptable! First, Kirche isn't a Tristainian; she's a noble from neighboring Germania. I hate Germanians!"

"Oh?" Shinji's expression was tinged with faint disapproval. "All Germanians? What did they ever do to you?"

"The...the Vallière and the von Zerbst family has been feuding for generations. My house, Vallière, has estates on Germania's borders, so we're the first on the field against Germanians the moment any war starts. Even worse, right opposite to us on that border is Kirche's birthplace. So, the Zebst family is our sworn enemy! "

Shinji nodded. "I can accept that, Louise-sama. How long have the two families been fighting?" He wondered if there was a Romeo and Juliet type of thing going on.

"Kirche's great-great-grandfather stole away my great-great-grandfather's lover! That was around two hundred years ago."

Shinji blinked. "That's... quite a while ago."

"Zerbst constantly slanders Vallière! They call themselves a passionate family but they're just a low, unworthy family that takes what it wants no matter who gets hurt in the way! My great-great-grandfather's fiancé was stolen away because of that."

"Huh? Stolen?"

"My great-great-grandfather's! His wife was taken away just like that."

"Is this the same great-great-grandfather with the lover or... you know what, I don't even care anymore." Oh, gods. It was a Romeo and Juliet situation after all, and as expected everyone was acting like romantic morons, including those who just kept enabling them by not doing anything. "So, basically, this is just because your family lost a lover to to Kirche's family?"

"Not just that. We've lost count on how many family members we've lost from the wars."

Shinji nodded again. A far more sane reason, though he recognized that he was hardly anyone to cast aspersions on anyone's sanity. "Is it really that bad to associate with Kirche? I don't think I want to make her an enemy at this point, if she can grab amorous male students so easily."

Louise laughed weakly. "I... ahahaha... I can't afford any more reagents."

"Maybe I -should- let her get to me. I mean, if you're rivals, then once she's done with me she's just going to lose interest. It might save trouble in the long run."

"No!" Louise glared. As she'd thought, he was just another stupid, easily-tempted man after all. "I will not let Kirche steal a single bird. I'll shame my ancestors if that happens." She leaned a bit closer. "That's why Kirche is forbidden!"

"Understood, my master." He palmed his face. "This is going to get troublesome."

"You should thank me. If word gets out that Kirche's lover is a commoner, do you think you'll survive?"

It was the boy's turn to laugh. There was a savage edge to his amusement. "Oh, easily. They might not. Thank you, master." He bowed, putting his forehead to the floor. "Don't worry. I won't let this inconvenience you too much."

_'There it is again!' _Louise whined inside her head. _'Just what is he thinking? What's his plan?' _No one was that relaxed about the risk of bodily harm without having some trump card to play.

As he lifted his had off the floor, the girl checked out her familiar. Avoiding looking into his eyes, which always had her forget his apparent age, he just looked so frail and defenseless. She put a hand to her chin and nodded. "This can't stand. It can't be helped... tomorrow we'll have to get you a sword."

"A what?" Was that even... legal? "I'm a commoner. I'm allowed to carry swords?" That was why he kept a hidden belt of throwable fruit knives on his back.

"Of course! We're not barbarians here. If you need to fight then a sword would be good."

"Pistols?"

"Pistols are too expensive! Denied!"

"You even sound like -_her_- now." the boy muttered softly. "All right. Thank you again, master." He smiled that thin, sad little smile of his. Louise growled. It was like looking at three different people in one body.

I

i

Kirche groaned. She woke up just before noon, with the open window stinging at her eyes. Why was it open and why didn't anyone wake her up for breakfast? Dimly she remembered that it was the day of Void. An empty bottle of wine showed why- she was a little drunk last night to celebrate, but trying not to get too drunk decided to pour half the bottle out the window as a tribute to the Saints.

She yawned and got up. It was the sort of tradition that had Tristanians clucking about 'waste', lie good little bean-counters. All good things come from a bit of sacrifice. Nothing taken so easily was ever worth having. She stretched out lazily. It was not like her beautiful body was easy to maintain, after all. It would be too easy to just let go of her own unique of self-discipline and drop from her self-determined measure of perfection. Kirche yawned once more, closed her eyes, took a deep breath and _forced _herself into full alertness.

She opened her eyes and smiled as last night's memory returned vividly. She licked her lips and began to freshen her makeup. A born hunter, she knew the worth of attacking quickly when least expected. The boy... and here she chuckled again... would expect her to back off from that little display of his. "WROONG!" she shouted into the mirror, and laughed. She was not some fragile little Tristanian to be scared off like that.

Kirche left her room to wait in front of Louise's door. She considered knocking or just barging in. If she knocked, then the so-obedient little familiar would have to answer the door and she could grab and immediately put a kiss to his lips before he realized what was happening. Would that shake him up enough to let poor blind little Louise see the savage little dragon inside instead of the whimpering little puppy that fed her ego? How would Luise react? On that thought, she decided not to be too forward. For a Tristanian, Louise was quite a little berserker. It was too late in the morning for that sort of thing.

She knocked on the door and waited. Frowning, she tried the latch and found it locked. Without hesitation she cast an unlocking spell on the door, something supposed to be forbidden on campus. That didn't matter anymore. Passion! To the hunt!

The room was empty. Right. Little Louise and Little Shinji liked to keep their polite little masks. The only reason Kirche would have kept her door locked so late in the day of Void was for bedroom activities. It took a little off the spice of the hunt if her only competition was just so boring. Kirche looked around. "The same tasteless little room..." she muttered. Louise's bedroom was clean and orderly, and showed very little personality.

She noticed more the absence of Louise's backpack. Adding to that it was the Day of the Void, then they must have gone out somewhere. "Why that conniving little bitch...!" Kirche muttered with a smile. It's what she would have done. She nodded to herself, in that case there was no time to hesitate.

Kirche left Luise's room, closing the door behind her and letting the generic security magic lock it back into place, and hurried over several doors down the dormitory.

She didn't bother trying to forcibly unlock the door. Unlike the basic enchantments provided to student's rooms, this one was reinforced by a powerful mage of Triangle-class skill. "Tabitha!" she shouted while knocking hard on the door. "It's me, Kirche! Open up, Tabithaaa...!"

Inside the room a slim, blue-haired girl sat among a mound of books. She sat with her knees up on her bed, with books of all sizes piled high on the table beside her and a smaller pile within easy reach near her feet. She looked four of five years younger than she actually was, shorter than even Louise. Her blue eyes behind eyeglasses sparkled with intent upon the pages. Opinions of other people didn't matter to Tabitha. She let out a huff as she turned the page. Days of Void were her own. She could sink into her favorite worlds, rather than endure all the noise and chaos of other people intruding on her senses.

Loud knocking at her door burst this little self-content melancholic bubble. Without even looking up, Tabitha reached out with her left hand to pick up her staff. The gnarled length of wood was taller than she was. In a barely-perceivable whisper she cast "Spell of Tranquility", a Wind-type spell that effectively blocking out those door knocks. With a small sigh she turned back to reading.

There was a loud bang and her door was forced open. Not a hint of surprise crossed Tabitha's face. She looked up. It was Kirche, who rushed into the room and began excitedly babbling. With the silencing magic however, none of her words reached Tabitha. Only another Triangle-class mage could have broken her lock. Her deep blue eyes showed only bland disinterest, and she turned back to reading.

Kirche was having none of that. She pulled out the book from Tabita's hand and grabbed the little reader's shoulder to make her look straight. For a moment a surge of irritation passed across Tabitha's eyes, but that quickly receded. Any other person would have been blown away by a cyclone then and there, but Kirche was Tabitha's friend. Seeing no other way, she cancelled her spell.

"Tabitha! Get ready! We're going out!" spilled out in a hurried stream from Kirche's lips.

Tabitha softly replied "Day of Void", and reached out to take back her book. Kirche stood up and raised the book over her head, the height difference barring Tabitha from the recovery. The smaller girl did not change expression however. It seemed she was used to being denied.

"Yes, I know how Days of Void are important to you, I really do, but this isn't the time for that talk! I'm in love! LOVE! Don't you get it?"

Tabitha clenched her tiny right fist, as if considering punching Kirche in the gut just to get her to bend down. The blue-haired girl shook her head. Where Kirche was propelled by her emotions, Tabitha was a cold and deliberate thinker. Slowly, she opened her hand, but the look in her eyes was faintly accusing.

"I'm not doing this if it wasn't IMPORTANT." the Germanian girl continued, still holding her arm up. "You won't move until I explain, geez. Fine. I'm in love with a boy. He's got to be mine! Louise doesn't deserve someone like that!" She sighed and lowered her arm. Swiftly Tabitha grabbed her book while Kirche went on to explain.

Tabitha didn't look like she was listening, sitting on her knees and carefully flipping the pages of the book until she could mark the part where her reading was interrupted. She understood that the familiar of Vallière was Kirche's target this time. It was not outside of expectations. That had been a fairly unusual display of power, however outside of that Tabitha had never really cared to acknowledge anyone else's existence. All the virtues that her friend extolled were easily ignored. She knew just how biased Kirche could be, and how just as easily losing interest once her conquest was completed.

"And then he hit me." reached her ears. There was a slight rip, as part of a page tore free from the bindings. Tabitha looked up, and behind her blue eyes a cold wind howled. Outwardly however, she showed no interest in Kirche's tirade.

"I mean, not hard, but enough to leave an impression." Kirche grinned wickedly. "Tabitha! Does he think I don't know how to play that scene?" Excitedly the tall dark beauty put both hands on the bed and bounced in play. "I didn't think I'd find anyone in Tristania with actually the guts to play the game."

Tabitha's expression didn't waver by the slightest bit, but she didn't think it was any sort of game. There were certain events in her books, she didn't dismiss any genres - that would be an insult to the books - but Kirche was not one of those vapid, needy heroines with no distinctive traits to them other than extreme dependency issues. If anything, was the other way around. She put down her book and faced Kirche.

"If the mouse is running, then the cat must chase! This is the passionate love that burns through anything! Love! It can't be denied, Tabitha! But that annoying Louise took him out for the day and I want to go after them. Do you get it now? I don't even know where they are!"

Tabitha continued to look blank. That mattered to her, how? Kirche was her friend, but she -was- annoying too. If Kirche could not respect her isolation in her own special day, then she saw no reason to indulge her friend's manic obsessions.

"They just left! On horseback! I can't catch up without your familiar, you know? That's why I need you. I need your familiar." Kirche looked about to cry.

Tabitha nodded. If Kirche was that desperate then she had no choice but to help search for the boy. Yet glaciers had more kindness than that glance.

"Oh thank you." Kirche gushed and patted her friend's head. "So, let's hurry up!"

The smaller mage reached for her staff and got off the bed. Her black cape rose on its own to drape over her shoulders. She went over to her window and whistled. The sound hung in the bright, sunny morning. Turning back to Kirche, she grabbed entwined the vivacious yong woman's left hand with hers and pulled.

Kirche offered no resistance, even when the gentle pull brought her over to and out the window. Tabitha's room was on the fifth floor, and Kirche gave no more than an excited whoop as she threw herself out into the empty air. Glittering blue scales flashed. There was a loud flapping noise and strong tough wings met them in midair in a smooth practiced maneuver. Though she looked like the calm and collected sort, Tabitha didn't really have much patience, and tended to forgo doors entirely when going outside because jumping out was often far quicker.

"No matter how many times I see it, your familiar is just too cool, Tabitha!" Kirche whooped as she grabbed a protruding spine and steadied her riding stance. Tabitha's familiar was an infant wind dragon. It turned slightly to catch the upward draft around the tower and expertly rose to high in the air in the blink of an eye. "Sylphid is just awesome."

Riding near the dragon's neck, Tabitha asked "Where?"

Kirche winced. "I... don't know? I was panicking." Trusting Sylphid to keep her balanced, Kirche crossed her arms together and put a finger to her chin in a thoughtful pose. "Maybe the city? There's really nothing much to see around us than forests and farmland. That's a few hours away by horseback."

Tabitha nodded. Less than half an hour with her Sylphid. "Two people on horseback. Don't eat them."

The wind dragon gave an obedient *chirrup* and rose higher, scouring the unfolding vista for a horse. It was a simple task for a dragon, for their entire body was made for quick swoops down on unsuspecting prey. Satisfied that her familiar was doing her job, Tabitha reached into the folds of her robe and took out the book she was reading before. Her expression flickered with displeasure at the ripped page, though as she'd left the door to her room wide open it was strange if she actually valued any physical objects. She was more angry that she herself had damaged her property.

I

i

Shinji and Louise walked briskly down Tristain's city streets, having deposited their campus-owned horse at the stables by the city gates. Shinji rubbed at the small of his back now and then. They rode for three straight hours just to get to the capital city, though it was hardly a straight path. Shinji was starting to reconsider Tristainia being roughly analogous to the Netherlands from his world, because it had too many damn hills and deeply curving roads.

"Honestly, haven't you been on a horse before? I know you're a commoner, but that's... weird."

"Honestly? No, Louise-sama. I've never really had to go someplace too far for me to walk, and if it was necessary transportation was always provided for me."

Louise nodded. Coaches, then. The military was composed mostly of commoners, but they were a step up from the plebes. Her familiar was too young and too small to be a footsoldier, despite his strange abilities, so he probably served as an aide-de-camp. She wondered how that fit into his monster-hunter job though. How else was he supposed to chase down his targets? Using monsters to fight monsters... something like ogres or dragons, maybe?

Louise swept her arm proudly. "Don't get too used to me bringing you here. This is Tristain! It's worth the ride, isn't it?"

The boy winced slightly. The streets were cobblestones, the buildings were brownstone. It was quite charming, actually, rather far from the mass-produced geometric facades of Tokyo-3's buildings. It was like being in a theme park. Vendors on the streets sold fruit and meat, while most shops had colored panes of glass. It was quite crowded with people walking and porters running, but at least the streets were clean and not smelling of horse poop. It wasn't quite so medieval, Kensuke noted, more like the Renaisannce period, but the smaller buildings did look right out of a fantasy Role Playing Game.

"It's quite a bit tight." Shinji replied. So many people. So many human souls, loud and full of life. He wanted to shrink into himself. They felt like shards of glass being rubbed into his skin.

"This? It's already a wide street as it is. With the Day of the Void, I guess the main street is kind of busy. Horses aren't allowed to pass here." They passed a porter carrying several large sacks of fruit on his shoulders. Shinji sighed at the unchanging human condition.

"This is a main street?"

Louise nodded. ""Bourdonné Street, Tristain's widest avenue. The palace is straight ahead." Louise pointed to the large white structure in the distance.

More French naming. Shinji told Kensuke to just drop it and toss away the old map. It was useless. Geography, and no to mention History, was different here. Kensuke supplied another bit of information. Tristain was not a walled city. It was wide enough that at some point, like in the Earth that was, walls became pointless for defense. Cannons made them obsolete. But even way, way back in ancient times, Sparta didn't have walls. Tight, labyrinthine streets forced the splitting up of armies on the assault. Shinji looked carefully. Most buildings were made of stone.

_'What about magic to make things stronger than normal?' _he asked.

_'You'd need some sort of magicannon, then. Master SPAA-'_

Shinji cut off that thought. Definitely he missed Asuka. While no one could hurt him so deeply with so few choice words, Kensuke just. Wouldn't. Shut. Up. It was incredibly annoying, and perhaps, the perfect punishment. On the other hand, having to constantly suppress unwarranted enthusiasm did help in keeping all other feelings buried. Louise frowned at him. He looked far too bored.

He could at least be grateful! If she demanded it though, it wouldn't mean anything. "Hey, keep your head up! Be alert! Dont forget, you -are- looking after my wallet, aren't you?"

Shinji nodded and patted the bulge in the black suit. It was messing with his sense of balance. These people still used gold- actual gold! If they had the ability to transfigure elements, he wondered how gold could still be valuable. No, wait. He did not wonder at all. He forced himself not to wonder about -anything-. He accepted it all, no matter how weird, no matter how illogical, there was no room for curiosity in his mind. It might be accidental, but he was learning Zen meditation.

It was better than stabbing himself in the brain. That didn't work out too well last time.

"Safe." Shinji said. Only two things: follow Louise at just a slightly slower pace, and keep a hand near the wallet. "No one will be stealing this. I wonder how a pickpocket is even supposed to- " Oh dammit.

Louise sneered. "Magic." Magic. Of course. "With magic, it can be done is just in a second, and floating away faster than you can run."

"That doesn't quite fit with the profile of only nobles being able to use magic, though." Maybe it can spontaneously appear among the lower classes, but we. Will not. Be researching that. Right now. Shut. Up. Shinji looked around. Nobles were easy to identify by that they were the only ones who wore capes, and had a distinctively arrogant way of walking. Of course, stealing using magic, anyone had to be downright stupid to do that while being so easy to pick out from the crowd.

Not all those who used magic were nobles, Louise explained. They could be disowned or leave his or her family name of one's own accord, dropping in status to become a mercenary or criminal. Sometimes there were children of unknown parentage, and they best they could hope for is to be fostered by someone of noble lineage. There were -no- magic-using commoners. It was a very simple split. At least commoners could take comfort in knowing their place in society.

Shinji nodded to show he was listening. "Excuse me, what? Only ten percent of the population are nobles?" The entire history of the world unrolled at the back of the boy's mind. Assuming that Halgekinia had the population of Europe in the Middle Ages, then that was a surprisingly huge proportion of nobility to peasantry. He found a cruel smirk crossing his lips. Magic was completely unnecessary to perpetuation of arbitrary suffering.

While Shinji could understand any language ever spoken by a human being, the written language was a different matter entirely. The knowledge in the library was closed to him, unless he asked for help from some of the nobles there... a tricky prospect, since for some reason the male nobles would eventually try to push a few coins into his hands and run away, while the girls just pretended to faint... and a part of him asked "_How long?_" with the voice of a sun-drenched shaman. "_How long before these magic-users stopped thinking of themselves as unto gods and remembered that they too can be hurt? What did it take to teach them humility?_" The cackling of crows echoed through the cliffs. "_Are we here to instruct them in the meaning of mortality again?_"

He knew mankind. If the pharaohs and the ancient god-kings actually had real magic, real power, then sure as hell they'd be ruling with fear and ostentation to the hilt. It would have been very difficult to get them to stop- worlds with magic tended to grow their own gods and their own damnation. Something was different here; he could taste a balance forced from without. No; Shinji decided as they followed Louise through steadily narrowing roads, tasting the fear and disgust rolling off the young woman. Even reduced as he was, it was a waste of his time to try and fix an unjust society. He had no faith in justice, or mercy, or truth. Fate and destiny were not for things such as him, but likewise he had no motivation to meddle with either. It was no sin to be an asshole. It wasn't like he was in any position to forgive -anything-.

"Where is it... I know it's around here somewhere..." Louise was muttering. "Ew." the girl recoiled from a stinking heap of trash just left lying along the side of a building. "It should be near Peyman's Potion Shop."

"Louise-sama, I realize we're looking for a blacksmith, but surely there are ones more accessible to the public."

"Well, yeah, but... it's your fault anyway! There's a reason why nobles don't come here too often."

Shinji bowed slightly. It took a lot for a noble to admit to being poor. "Didn't we pass a guard recruiting station? Um... do they also semi-randomly hand out bounties for slaying monsters?"

"No, because that's what the enlisted guards are for!" Louise replied curtly.

Not an RPG game; Shinji had to remind himself. Helping out in the kitchen was enough to get him a tiny stipend to cover ingredients costs, but he could likely make more by just randomly mugging nobles for gil and XP and _goddamit Kensuke stop doing that_. Louise would probably feel insulted if he tried to help out. That wasn't a servant's place. It wasn't like they were married or something.

Louise cried out happily at seeing a sword-shaped bronze sign. "Ah! Found it!"

"Over here. They don't just sell swords though."

She saw a bronze sign and happily cried, "Ah! Found it!" Brazenly she walked up the stone steps and entered the shop. Despite the bright sunlight outside, the interior was quite dim. Walls and shelves displayed a disorganized mix of weapons, shields, and pieces of armor. A rotund man with a pencil moustache and mouselike front teeth, idly smoking a pipe, eyed the newcomers with suspicion. His eyes widened on seeing the pentagram on Louise's cloak clasp.

"My lady!" the arms merchant greeted loudly. "My noble lady! All of my wares here are genuine and reasonably priced! There's nothing criminal goin on here!"

Shinji blinked. "That was... a rather specific denial." he had to say.

Louise ignored it. "I will be your customer." she told the merchant. "I'm here for a sword."

The merchant rubbed his palms. "Oh, that's good. Very good. At your service my lady...!" and in a lower voice "A noble buying a sword. That's strange."

"Oh? How so?"

Stammering at his indiscretion, the arms dealer replied ""Well… priests wave sacred staffs, soldiers wave swords, and nobles wave wands. Isn't that the rule?"

"That's not actually true." Louise said aside to her familiar. "There are certain mages who can focus their magic through a sword as easily as they can a wand. I know for sure that Her Majesty's Mage Guard can do it. And so can my father." she added proudly. Then, turning back to the merchant "But I'm not going to be using it. My familiar is."

"Ahh… a familiar that can use a sword, huh?" The shopkeeper spoke in a lively voice, and looked at Shinji. "Would that be this 'gentleman' over there?"

Shinji meanwhile was looking dubiously at the assortment of weapons. Being only slightly taller than Louise, this made most weapons unwieldy. He looked at a few shields and discarded the thought. Short sword and kite shield; but he didn't know if he'd look any good with a pointed foolscap.

"Yes. I'm not too knowledgeable about swords, so show me something that's reasonable."

The shopkeeper turned and walked into the warehouse just behind his shop, silently muttering to himself about how he much he could raise his prices. He came out with a long sword with a relatively thin blade, a pointed tip, and had a cuplike hand guard on the short handle. He gave it over to Louise, who easily held it with just one hand.

"Nobles seem to like to let their servants bear swords lately..." the merchant commented idly. "The last one who came here picked this type."

Louise took a few practice swings. It was light enough for even her to carry. Could anyone do any damage with such a flimsy-looking thing? It looked like it would break against any form of armor. "Is that the trend?"

"Oh, yes. There's been an increase of thievery lately. Some mage thief is going around stealing valuables, and that's why the nobles are arming their servants."

"Do you have anything like butcher knives or a large cleaver?" Shinji asked. "Something that's heavy enough to do enough damage if thrown? A sword is fine, but... if it's against magic, having to go close range doesn't seem to help much."

"This is a weapons shop, I'm not a blacksmith." the arms dealer cooly replied. "If you want to throw something, throwing knives are smaller. Kitchen knives are useless for that." He scoffed inwardly. Ignoramuses. Well, as long as they had money.

"I don't like it." Louise said, giving back the sword. "Don't you have anything heavier or longer? Something more... impressive looking."

"My lady, please forgive my bluntness – swords and people have compatibilities, just like men and women. As I look at it, this sword fits my noble lady's familiar very well."

"Didn't I say I want something bigger and broader?" said Louise, impatiently glaring at him.

"I'd still prefer a knife, though..."

"Shut up!" Louise shouted at her familiar. Defeating enemies with kitchen implements? Honestly! That was not the proper way to do things. "The longer the sword, the better! Don't talk to me about knives anymore! You have to be bigger than that!"

"Are we even talking about swords anymore...?" the merchant whispered under his breath.

"I actually have no idea." Shinji replied in the same low tone.

The shopkeeper went inside again, remembering to silently mumble, "Oh, the laymen…" After a while, he returned, one hand rubbing the new specimen with an oily rag. "How about this, then?" It was a splending broadsword, with a handle made for two-handed weilding and decorated with jewels. Its blade had a mirror-like finish, and anyone who saw it would say it was an absurdly sharp and broad blade. ""This is the best thing I have. Rather than say it's for nobles, it's more like something nobles wish they can wear on their waists, but that's something reserved for very strong men. If not, wearing it on the back isn't half bad."

Shinji leaned closer to the sword. "It's really impressive, but..."

"What did I just say?"

The boy sighed. Shinji rubbed his white-gloved fingers, hesitating to let any grime touch that golden hilt. "I don't deserve such a fine blade, master."

She turned and pointed. "I've seen you do weirder things with your bare hands, carrying that shouldn't be a problem right?" Her familiar walking around with a sword that should be too big for him to use, what a good way of showing that this was no mere commoner! That this was powerful familiar of a powerful master!

"Um..." Shinji supposed the excuse of being tired or being physically weak would eventually wear thin. "I suppose that it -is- big enough for blocking." Trying to block with the flat edge of a knife, that just might lead to impaling himself with his own weapon. Normally that would just be an inconvenience, but it would be harder to explain away than just being able to carry things his slight bone structure shouldn't even allow.

"How much?" Louise eagerly asked.

"Well… it's made by the famous Germanian alchemist Lord Shupei. It can cut through metal like butter because of the magic infused in it! See this inscription here?" The shopkeeper proudly pointed at the words on the handle. "You can't get this cheaper anywhere else."

_'But I can already -do- that.' _Shinji wisely chose not to say. Who knows, if Louise gets annoyed beyond reason she might decide to just have to go try to forge his own goddamn blade instead. It appeared that the girl wouldn't be budged from the idea of having a swordsman at her personal behest.

"Well… I -am- a noble." Louise held her head up high.

At that, the shopkeeper bluntly gave the price, "This will go for just three thousand new gold coins."

"What? You can buy a holiday home with a garden with that!" Louise said, shocked.

"A famous sword is worth as much as a castle, my lady. A holiday home is quite cheap compared to this."

"…I only brought 100 new gold coins…" Louise, being a noble, had little skill in bargaining, and made the taboo of giving away her wallet's contents. Even Shinji, who had never really needed to manage his own finances, winced at the error.

The shopkeeper only waved his hand dismissively. "Come on… even standard broadswords cost at least two hundred new gold coins."

Louise's face turned red. "I didn't even know swords cost that much."

"But that means gold really, really, sucks as the basis for currency!" Shinji wailed suddenly. "Don't you people ever break it down to silver and bronze? No matter how magic gets thrown around, steel should never cost that much." He looked close to crying for some reason. "How can you deny me XP and yet inflict this exponential price growth on me?"

Louise rubbed her forehead. "What are you going on about this time?"

The boy hunched his shoulder and looked away. "Uh... nothing. Nothing. Don't look at me, I have no opinions."

"FOOLS!" a strong voice resounded through the shop. "Don't tell me you're buying that horse tripe! A single piece of gold is worth ten silver, and a silver is worth ten copper. Such has been the rule since antiquity!"

Louise eeped. "Who said that? S-show yourself!"

"And you, boy! That false humility makes me sick! You, carry a sword like that? You're more suited for a stick!"

"It's coming from... over there?" Shinji blinked. There was an open barrel with old swords stuck in it. His left hand itched.

"Derf!" the merchant shouted at the swords."Don't say such impolite things to my customers!"

"Oh my gods." the boy moaned. He wondered why he didn't notice it before. The magic there held the same 'flavor' as that which was inside the familiar runes. "It's a magic talking sword, master. I'm being scolded by a sword. I've hit a new low."

"Could this be.. a sentient weapon?"

"That's right, lady. It's a sentient, magical, intelligent sword. I wonder what kind of mage could make a sword speak… but it's got a rotten tongue, always arguing with my customers. Hey, Derf! Keep up the insolence and I'll ask this noble here to melt you!"

"Sounds good to me! I'd like to see you try it! I'm kinda tired of this world. I'd love to be melted down!" the sword replied.

While Shinji Ikari had no wish to meddle with such things as fate and destiny, the opposite was not quite true. It couldn't be more obvious that fate wanted to screw around with him some more. "Might as well get it over with..." he turned to Louise. "Louise-sama, I'd like to have this sword."

"Are you sure? It's kind of... annoying." Louise scowled at the magic sword's rusty appearance.

"Hah! And what makes you think you're worthy of using a sword such as the great Derflinger?"

The boy reached into the back of his coat and quickly flicked out his arm. There was a soft *thunk* and a kitchen knife was buried to the handle into the stone near the barrel. "Probably not worthy, Derflinger-san. But I -can- carry you." Turning again to Louise "A magical sword should have some sort of generic protection spell, right? It sounds like it'd be a waste to make a talking sword and have it easy to break."

"Ooh! A user, is it? So you can throw, that doesn't mean you can use a sword. Fine, I'll let you carry me! Don't worry, I've trained my share of swordsmen in my day."

"I'm regretting it already." Shinji sighed. "How can you even see that? You don't have eyes."

"Are you stupid? What, are you an imbecile or something? What the hell do you think I am?"

"... I'm really starting to hate magic."

"You and me both, partner!"

Louise groaned. "Are you really, really sure you want this? Hey, shopkeeper, I think you should be paying us to get rid of this thing."

The arms dealer cackled. "Nice try, my lady, but I will let it go for just one hundred gold. It's still a magical sword."

"The things I have to go through. Familiar! Pay the man!" While she would still have preferred something prettier, it was better than nothing. As Shinji counted off the gold coins from her wallet, Louise approached Derflinger and tried to pull out the knife stuck in the wall. It was lodged in there quire solidly.

"Ooh, so it's you that's the user." Derflinger said. "Hey, noble girl, make sure to feed my partner well. You'll need him at full strength soon."

"Don't talk to me." Louise hissed back. She looked contemplatively at her familiar again. Hidden strengths, hidden depths; it was all kind of pointless if no one was ever allowed to know, right?

The arms dealer took Derflinger and put the sword into a bronze scabbard. He then handed it over to Shinji. "If it gets noisy, just shove it back in the scabbard, and it'll shut up."

"Make sure to polish me well when you get home." Derflinger said as Shinji strapped it to his back. "It's been a while since I had a good rub-down. A swordsman should polish his weapon regularly! That way he doesn't get strange urges when in battle!"

"Let's just get out of here." Louise grumbled. She turned around, angrily striding out the door. A hurried Levitation spell brought two eavesdroppers to the roof of the shop. While she couldn't really say it was an unproductive day, it was also deeply unsatisfying. Instead of impressing her familiar, she'd humiliated herself again. She'd lost again; can nothing in her life ever go right? She winced at the harsh sunlight after the dim shop.

"Louise-sama."

"Yeek!" The young noble jumped and clutched at her ear. "Do-don't stand too close like that. Don't speak right into my ear like that!" she complained, while blushing.

"Um... you were blocking the way, and..." Shinji looked down and began scuffing the stone steps with his shoe. "I do appreciate what you're doing for me, master. Thank you."

_'Wa-wa-why is my heart pounding like this?' _Louise turned around sharply. "T-that's right. Remember that! If you serve me well, I'll reward you! Now let's go!" A hundred gold left. That was good enough for a small snack in a cafe somewhere, Louise thought. Wait; she'd already bought him a sword. No, he hadn't done anything to deserve that yet. People might get the wrong idea! "Let's go back to the castle now."

Shinji nodded eagerly. "Hai!"

_'That was disgustingly yandere of you.'_ Kensuke commented.

_'Shut up.'_

ii

"So, Louise, trying to warm your relationship with buying a sword? Using gifts to get to his heart so quickly. Well done, Louise- I didn't think you had it in you." Kirche whispered, while floating back down. If Louise the Zero was incompetent in anything more than magic, it was obviously in matters of love. There, Kirche was the master. "We can't let this stand, Tabitha! Time to counterattack!"

The blue-haired girl, as usual, was reading. Without even looking up from her book, she followed Kirche into the shop.

The shopkeeper stared at Kirche as if he couldn't believe it. "Whoa… another noble? What the hell is going on today?" Noticing Tabitha, "Two nobles. This is... this never happened before."

"Hey there, boss…" Kirche played with her hair, a charming smile in her lips. The shopkeeper's face turned deep red, never having ever imagined that a noble would use such blatant seduction. "Do you happen to know what that noble bought not long ago?"

"A s-sword… she bought a sword."

"I see… so she did get him a sword…" Kirche muttered. She looked around the shop and scoffed. So many ugly blades. "What kind of sword?"

"A d-dirty and rusty one."

"Oh? Rusty? Why?"

"Because she didn't bring enough money."

Kirche laughed, putting her hands to her chin and swaying from side to side. "She went broke! Vallière! Your Duke's house will cry for this! Isn't that just too funny, Tabitha?"

"Uh… is my lady here to buy a sword, too?" The shopkeeper perked up, not willing to let go of the chance. This noble was... stacked... and looked richer than that other tiny one. The other noble girl still seemed absorbed in her book.

"Of course! Show me the best you have." The man walked inside, brushing his hands in excitement. He returned, of course, with the broadsword he just showed earlier. Kirche cooed at her reflection on the blade's perfect finish. "Ohh… a very well-made sword!"

"You have a good eye, my lady. That noble not so long ago had a servant that really wanted this one, but it was too much for them." He was not above telling white lies just to get a sale.

"Is that so?" 'The noble's servant? So this is the sword that Shinji wants to have.' Kirche thought of the boy holding a blade nearly bigger as he was. She imagined some sort of fur-lined red cape, and for some reason in the distance was a dark castle and large white moon. It was definitely a heroic and faintly sinister sight. "Yes, yes, that fits."

"Of course… this sword is made by the famous Germanian alchemist Lord Shupei after all. It can cut through metal like butter because of the magic infused in it! See this inscription here?" The shopkeeper repeated what he had said before.

Tabitha looked up from her book. "Spear."

"What?" Kirche looked down in surprise.

Tabitha glanced up at her friend, to the sword, then back to her book. "I will buy."

"Wait, you're going to buy a spear? Why?"

"Practical." the blue-haired girl said simply.

At this, the arms merchant nodded. "It doesn't take as much strength or skill to be deadly with a spear." There was a reason why the polearm was the main weapon of every footsoldier since ancient times. "That boy seemed to like t-throwing things. You can throw a spear."

Kirche still looked doubtful. "But it's still a commoner's weapon, right? That's not so impressive. Doesn't sound like the thing to bring indoors anyway."

"Collapsible spear." Tabitha added.

"You're certainly well-informed." the merchant beamed. It was a refreshing change from the ignorant brat from earlier and her oddly disturbing familiar. On the other hand, he still wanted to sell the shiny sword, and having someone knowledgeable might harm that. "A collapsible spear won't be as strong as a normal spear. It's something you give to someone who's going to go to war, not really a good present."

The short mage just stared blankly up at him, as if to say 'Irrelevant'. It was starting to piss him off. "A-all right, then. I'll just go get one. You're here to buy, right?"

As he left, muttering to himself, Kirche asked her friend "Hey, not that I mind, but why are you doing this? This was supposed to be my gift." She cheerfully poked Tabitha in the cheek. "Are you planning on being my rival?"

Tabitha shook her head. "Practical." she said again, and that was the end of it. Kirche could recognize when her friend could be stubborn and hard to dislodge as boulder stuck in an ice sheet.

The arms merchant returned with a bundle of sticks wrapped in blue cloth. He unwrapped it to reveal three wooden staffs with metal caps and a blade about a hand and a half long. Three short metal pins were clearly for the holes in the open metal caps, to secure the spear-parts. "A collapsible spear isn't meant for thrusting into chain mail like a normal spear. With just one section, it's solid enough as a short spear, but don't try parrying with it."

Tabitha looked to her long staff. Then to the merchant. He had difficulty assigning that look to either 'I know how to use a long weapon, but it's not for me' or 'I can just magic the hell out it, dumbass'. In truth, Tabitha's mind very rarely bubbled over with unecessary thoughts. It was just that people seemed to think her behind her bland gaze she was always insulting everyone. If this was ever revealed to the girl, it was likely she still wouldn't give a damn.

"How much?" Kirche asked for her friend.

"Two hundred gold, my lady."

Tabitha lightly tapped her staff on the floor. The door to the shop blew open, and a cold wind quickly surged into the room.

"One hundred thirty-five!" the arms dealer shouted suddenly, while feeling his moustache start to stiffen. "No, wait, seventy-five!" It was the street price.

Tabitha placed three large gold coins on the table, and waved her staff slightly. The collapsible spear floated and began to follow her as she turned to leave.

"Hey, that's it?" Kirche called out. "What am I supposed to do now? I still need a ride back to the castle."

Without looking back, Tabitha answered "Buy what you want." She pointed with the gnarled end of her staff, to where Syphid had landed. The arms merchant boggled at seeing a dragon, barely even fitting into the alley.

Kirche sighed and put her arms over her breasts. "I guess I have to apologize. She's always like that." Then, brightening, she leaned over the counter. "I still want this sword! How much?"

The shopkeeper let out a held breath in relief. He asked for more, seeing how Kirche looked a lot richer, "Hmm… for new gold coins, four thousand five hundred."

"Hmm… that's a bit pricey." Kirche frowned.

"Well… great swords need to be paid for their worth, you know?"

Kirche thought for a while, slowly moving her body towards the shopkeeper. "All good things come from Germania. This is a Germanian sword, I must have it!" She smiled widely. "But boss… isn't this just a bit expensive?" Upon being caressed at the throat, the salesman suddenly lost his breath.

"Uh… but… great swords are…"

Kirche sat on the counter, raising her left thigh. "I'm a Germanian. I take what I want, no matter what I ghave to do to get it. Now, isn't the price a bit too high?" She slowly raised her left foot onto the counter. The salesman's eyes irresistibly stared at her thighs.

"Th-that's right… then… four thousand new gold…"

Kirche raised her thigh further so that he could almost see in between them.

"Ah… nonono, three thousand would do…"

"It's getting hot in here…" Kirche ignored him, only opening her shirt's buttons. "I feel really hot in here. Help me take off my shirt, please…" She threw her most sultry expression at him.

"Ah… I got it wrong, I got it wrong… it's two thousand five hundred!" Kirche blew at his face. She smelled of sweet fruit. "Two-two thousand!"

Kirche took off one button, and looked up at the shopkeeper.

"One thousand eight hundred new gold is fine!" he yelled, his voice pitching up.

Another button, exposing her cleavage. She looked at him again. He went down to just one thousand six hundred. Kirche stopped with her buttons, and turned her attention to her skirt instead, raising it just so little. The man looked like he couldn't take any more. He was shaking all over, his pencil moustache quivering up and down.

"How does one thousand sound?" she suggested, slowly lifting her skirt more.

The arms merchant was starting to hyperventilate. "Oh… ohhhhh…" Temptation warred against good business sense.

Kirche got off the counter, to a regretful moan by the merchant. She straightened herself out, and asked again, "One thousand."

"Oh! It's... one thousand will be fine!"

Kirche reached into her cleavage to take out a small book. Quickly she wrote a check, and slapped it on the counter. "Sold!" She then picked up the sword and left the shop, leaving the salesman to stare at her check.

A few moments passed in disbelieving silence. The merchant was unmoving as a statue, then, suddenly, screamed. "What? DAMMIT! Did I really just sell that baby for one thousand gold? Damn nobles!" He reached under the counter for a bottle of red rhum. "That's it... ohh... it's not worth dealing with nobles at all. I'm done for today." Taking a deep swig, he began to close up the shop.

ii

It took three more hours just to get back to the academy. Kirche was already waiting, having again broken into Louise's room. "What the hell." the girl said evenly. Fortunately she was too tired to offer much more than just token ire. There was the surreal moment when Shinji first caught glimpse of Tabitha. His response was a surprised "NGYAAAAAAH!" and frantic backpedaling out of the doorway. He crawled up the far wall, his fingers gouging handholds into the plaster.

Was that a flash of satisfaction briefly passing across the slim girl's gaze?

After calming down a bit and being scolded again by Louise, Shinji looked past Kirche's somewhat (disapproving) expression to really see Tabitha. The short blue hair and the bland expression, it was uncanny, but she was clearly not Ayanami. It was extremely difficult for him to forget that Rei Ayanami had been quite… well-shaped… for her age. It was part of why he had such resistance to Kirche's cantaloupes. Once you've had breasts the size of the Himalayas, others just fail to compare anymore.

So it was that as dusk fell across Tristain, Louise's room became the scene for a heated standoff as Kirche and Louise tried to stare each other down. Tabitha was at the study desk, reading by lamplight. Though apologies were made, it was still obvious that the boy was uncomfortable being around her. Shinji sat crosslegged on Louise's bed, the weapons in front of him.

"What's the meaning of this, Zerbst?" Louise hissed. "Just get out and stop interfering in things that aren't your business?"

"Oh, but I'm not really interfering, am I? As I've told you, Valliere, I'm just here to give dear Shinji what he wants."

"He doesn't want that! As you can see I've already gotten my familiar a sword." Louise turned around to see Shinji holding the expensive sword by the pommel. "What are you doing?"

"That's strange… it weighs practically nothing at all." Shinji spun the broadsword in his palm a few times.

"I carried it here. I'm sure it was heavy." Kirche commented excitedly. "Strong! You're actually strong!" That was manly enough. The distinctly unheroic shriek from before was forgotten.

"What…? Hey, you already have a sword! Didn't you beg me to get that sword? Give that one back!"

"An old rusty sword? Such jealous words are unmannerly, Louise!"

"Jealous? Who's jealous?"

"Aren't you? I, Kirche von Zerbst, easily got my dear Shinji the most desirable sword as a gift. You can't say you're not jealous, can you?"

"Jealous, my arse! That aside, I will not accept even a tiny little bit of generosity from a Zerbst! That's all there is!"

Kirche looked at Shinji who was now staring puzzled at the collapsible spear. His looked up towards Tabitha, and visibly shivered. This somewhat saddened her, as it would have been nice if her closest friend and her most recent paramour could actually get along. Here Tabitha had been uncommonly obliging enough to help out.

She turned back to Louise. "Anyway! This sword is created by Germania's very own alchemist Lord Shupei!" Kirche threw a seductive glare to Shinji. "You listen here… all that is good under the sun, let it be swords or women, can only come from Germania! Tristainian women, like Louise, are all extremely jealous, impatient, miserly, and snobbish, and nothing can change them!"

Louise snarled, and made as if to pull out her wand. "It's night-time, master." Shinji said idly, while trying out how to assemble the spear. "If you destroy the room, I won't be able to fix it until tomorrow."

Kirche smirked in triumph. Louise's assorted personality defects were easy to spot. "See? I'm just telling the truth."

Louise growled. _'This familiar, how dare it embarrass me like this, even after my generosity!'_ Another, slowly growing practical part warned that it would be –terribly- inconvenient if the room did get destroyed. Where would they sleep? If her magic was liable to just make things explode, this left her familiar's manpower to rub soot off the walls. Her familiar had that irritatingly calm way of turning her own arguments back on herself. Better go after something she could actually attack.

She laughed coldly. "Oh… how… amusing. Women like you are all romantic-minded idiots! Didn't you hook up with too many guys back in Germania, making nobody trust you, and ending up dropping out and running all the way over here to Tristain?"

Kirche's face darkened. "Oh, you've got guts. I'll give you that, Valliere. Germania's soil has fed from a lot of Valliere guts."

"That does it! Eat this!" Louise pulled out her wand, with Kirche following at almost the same instant.

Tabitha waved her staff idly, blowing the two mages apart. "Indoors." she said blandly. At the same time, Shinji had his arm outstretched to do… something. He looked surprised and somewhat grateful to be outmaneuvered.

"And who is this anyway?" Louise asked, meaning Tabitha. "Why is she even here?" 'And giving gifts to my familiar too!' Turning to Shinji "And why are you so scared of her?"

"S-scared? I'm not… okay." A deep breath. "Maybe a little. She reminds me of someone I knew before. Sorry again, Tabitha-san."

"An enemy?"

"Family."

Louise nodded, as if that explained everything. She returned to glaring at Kirche.

The taller woman shrugged. "You know, if this is going to be a problem, then why not have your familiar decide. It's his weapon, you know. If you want him to have to protect you with nothing more than old, rusty sword, then I'm not going to stand in the way of that."

Louise growled again. "If it comes down to that… fine! Hey, you decide!"

Shinji looked up. "Me?"

"Yes, it's your choice of swords."

Shinji smiled sheepishly and scratched at the back of his head. "No offense to you or Derf-san, but between an old talking magical sword that might be indestructible or a new magical sword that's said to really –be- indestructible… it's a really difficult decision." His expression brightened for a moment. "But.. um… regardless, I think I'll be keeping the spear, if you don't mind."

"Really? Why?" Kirche asked.

"Practical." Tabitha said from the other side of the room.

Shinji nodded. "What she said."

"The sword!" Louise insisted, pouting. "Which sword do you pick?"

Shinji lightly touched each of the weapons near his feet. Even he was not that oblivious. They were basically asking him to pick between the two of them. Louise or Kirche. Normally, there would be no contest, he'd side with his master, but Kirche did raise the painful point that his master was jealous, impatient, and miserly. "Um… I can't decide right now. I guess I'll have to try them out for a while."

Louise growled and grabbed him by the collars. "I won't accept that! Decide!"

"I refuse." her familiar replied firmly. "A spear, a two-handed broadsword and an arming sword. You're asking me to choose between three fighting styles on a whim!" At least he could throw the spear, if necessary. The problem was that it was harder to conceal than knives. Also, someone was talking about triple-wielding and he desperately needed to give himself a punch to the face.

Louise looked as if she might just boil over, but she let go. Her fists were tightly clenched. It would have been so much easier if she could just hit him, but in full view of a von Zerbst and her friend? That would have just added more fuel to the flame of their contempt. _'It's… fine. It's fine. I'm stronger than this. I just have to believe…'_ Louise moaned internally. She wanted to believe he'd be loyal, but that dratted von Zerbst woman had her outbid. Why –should- he be loyal? She was a failure as a mage and as master. Louise resisted raising her hand to wipe her slightly wet eyes.

Behind her, Kirche nodded, approving his strength not to compromise on his principles.

_'See? Not all my suggestions are stupid.'_ Kensuke commented.

_'You meant it as a sexual metaphor. It was just pure luck they bought it.'_ Shinji moaned silently. _'Aaasukaa… come baaack!'_ Aida, unlike Sohryu, didn't have a strong enough personality to manifest outside of the subconscious. Unfortunately, this also meant that Shinji couldn't reach back far enough to give a much-needed kick to the teeth.

I

I

Shinji Ikari kept no diary. While it was unlikely even his meddlesome master would be able to read kanji, it was more of that he had no need to leave anything of himself to posterity or require anything else for self-reflection. The experience of linear time was only a matter of preference to beings such as him. He stared dully up at the shadows on the stone ceiling, wondering how long this peaceful illusion would hold.

_'Hey, Ikari, do you hate me?'_

_'You're not Kensuke Aida.'_

_'No... not explicitly... but haven't you ever thought that those around you could have done just a little bit more so you wouldn't have turned out like... this?'_

_'It's a little too late to be dredging up excuses, isn't it? Even going back won't change anything. I can't really forgive anyone, but it's not like I can just throw blame too. It's too late for that. I am what I am.'_

_'Good enough for some of us. Your master's not going to accept that excuse tomorrow, you know.'_

Shinji groaned and got up._ 'There won't be any time clones, and there won't be a San-tou-ryuu. If they didn't know I'd just refuse they'd probably won't let you get away with saying things like that.'_

_'It's kind of hard to moan and play the martyr when the worst you can complain about is "semi-critical annoyance" isn't it?'_

Gendo Ikari definitely had a hand in this; the boy thought. Everything had a vulnerability of some sort, but it took special attention to make it ironic. Shinji got up and tiptoed over to the desk. The weapons were bundled in blue cloth and tied with a string. It was a weird feeling to hold them. A long time ago, he hadn't really thought of himself as a violent person, but over time had come to accept that brutality was part of mankind. It was the reason why they became the apex predator of their Earth, and that same ruthless thirst for ever-greater experiences that ended up turning one boy into the undying orphan of their ambitions.

He carefully hefted the bundle, only to stumble slightly off-balance. He froze in panic as the tip of a scabbard scraped against the wall. After a while, he shook his head in and chuckled at himself. So afraid at discovery. So afraid at... what? Being seen as less than human? Louise, status-conscious little terror that she was, would have preferred a release of monstrous power. She'd hate him if he was nothing more than a useless commoner.

As Shinji jumped out the window to almost certain doom, he wondered for the first time, if he would even like himself if he suddenly became just a normal human again. A flickering red plane appeared under his feet just before hitting the ground, and he landed with nary a noise.

_'Dude, seriously, when was the last time you ever allowed yourself to have fun? When was the last time you tried to learn anything new? You're free like no one else can be! Even if you tie yourself down to that girl even if you keep on angsting all over the place, we don't really care. But dammit, Ikari! We're due for some variety!'_

Shinji slowly and calmly walked to the center of the deserted courtyard and opened the bundle out into the grass.

"Oh? You're testing out the styles right now, partner? I don't know why you'd even bother! These lumps of metal aren't half the weapon I am!"

"I had intended on keeping you from the start, Derf-san. I'd rather face Kirche-san's disappointment than my master's childish tantrums." The boy picked up the fancy Germanian broadsword.

"Hoho- tricky, tricky. You're fine with that sort of dishonesty? What's with this excursion, then? Trying out the goods without obligations? Looks like I made a wise decision after all." The boy waved the sword about slightly, frowning a bit as he tried to figure out it balance. Then, a glittering arc spun through the night. "…you just threw a broadsword, didn't you?" Derflinger asked curtly.

"Hai."

"You do know that swords aren't supposed to be used like that, right?"

"Um... it used to be that I'd stupidly charge straight at the enemy to stab them in the core or rip their faces off with my bare hands, but... that's stupid." Shinji gave a somewhat hysterical little laugh and put a hand to right eye. "I think... I've learned that ranged attacks have their own value."

"I should probably insist you try to learn how to use a bow, but as long as you PROMISE NEVER TO DO THAT TO ME-"

Shinji raised his hand high. The spinning sword returned and the hilt slapped onto his open palm.

"... boy, just because something is unexpected doesn't mean it isn't equally stupid. You could chop in half maybe one mage before the rest wise up and blow it away with a good wind spell or even a decent water spell. People with a lick more sense would just dodge."

"Why do people keep assuming I'm going to be slaughtering mages left and right? I just don't want to see Louise-sama hurt."

It was a distinctly selfish way of phrasing it, Derflinger noticed. Usually people would use the very covenient words 'to protect'. "As a user, who do you think is going to be the greatest threat to her? Ohh, things never change. Never change. Mages just keep on messing with things that they shouldn't, that they do."

"You're strangely knowledgeable for a sword, Derf-san." Shinji reversed his grip and stabbed the broadsword into the ground. He picked up the collapsible spear and began to assemble it. At the end, he stood with a bladed staff half an arm taller than he was. Awkwardly he grasped the spear and made a few experimental stabs.

"A long, long, long, long time... even a sword learns things. Even a sword has things to regret. No, closer to the center! Carry the weight with your far hand, the forward hand just eases it in!"

"Uh. Oh. That works." Again he did the thrusting motion. "Thank you, magical talking sword sensei."

"This is pointless. Use me, partner."

Shinji felt magic surge out from his left hand, and into his arms. He flicked the spear in and out in swift cutting motions. He stopped and frowned. "The weight." A spear could be faster than a sword going from point to point, but the broken sections messed with the sense of balance. He wasn't sure if the increased reach made up for it. He looked at the flat single-edged blade on the end, which looked cut from the end of a dagger. Not the diamond-shaped piercing tip expected of most spears, he supposed technically the weapon in his hand had more in common with a naginata than a conventional European polearm. Was that ironic or appropriate?

A cold hush fell over the courtyard. The light of the moons dimmed a fraction as a faintly serpentine silhouette pased. A broad-winged shape flapped noisily, reminding nocturnal creatures to beware that which hunts whenever it so pleases. Shinji turned around to see a blue-haired girl floating down with all the grace of a snowflake. "Tabitha-san?"

The girl landed silently, and looked at the spear in his hands then to her gnarled staff. She nodded approvingly. "Fair." she muttered to herself. She angled her staff towards Shinji. "Duel." she announced.

"...what?"

Silence claimed the courtyard as she waved her staff and cast Spell of Tranquility. There was no sound to draw interruptions, or even to disturb her friend's rest, as Tabitha sent a spiked pillar of ice lancing across the field.

I

i

Tabitha was in many ways the ideal student, if one with practically nil class participation but constantly perfect exam marks to give weight to the grade. Unfortunately that same calm, studious, easily-overlooked demeanor also made for the ideal assassin. As the deceptively helpless-looking girl switched from big, obvious spears of ice to near-invisible globes of bludgeoning wind, Shinji Ikari ran like a scared little bitch.

_'Ah.'_ Kensuke commented sagely. _'Being attacked by a crazed ultraviolent loli. I really missed this.'_

Shinji pondered for a few moments that maybe being locked out of Paradise was possibly a good thing.

_'You're enjoying this, by the way. Whee. Blind terror. How nostalgic.'_

The boy ran out of ground. He began to use the castle walls. Unlike the fight with Guiche, there was no hesitation in his movements. The magic flowed freely, while his soul, his personality centre. sang with relief. Man was still animal. With the fight or fleet instinct, often there was greater respect attached to the 'fight' option. However, there was also a certain atavistic satisfaction in just surviving. He had no grudge against Tabitha, and no pride in his own power to push himself to prove his might.

He was slammed into the wall and slid down headfirst.

Tabitha was starting to get frustrated. For all that she looked like some meditative doll, she actually had very little patience. It was ever-so-much easier to ignore than world than to deal with its people, because if she had to pay attention she might need to cut bits out of it. Not out of loathing, not out of appetite, but because there was no point to it. They were just passing scenery in the life she was bound to discharge.

There was no grace to it, his dodging. No backflips, no grand leaps- just semi-random zig-zagging and the occasional lucky bounce. He could do better than that. Was he looking down upon her? She changed her hold on her staff from one-handed to two.

Shinji eep'ed as a bolt of lightning struck the ground uncomfortably close to his crotch. He looked up to see Tabitha incline her head slightly to the side, as if to ask _'Are you ready to take me seriously now?'_

_'Can't we talk about this?'_ he wanted to ask but lack of noises coming out of his mouth told him _'no'_. That was troubling. In the fight with Guiche, he was stabbed, bludgeoned, and bled, but it was not unexpected to be so vulnerable to physical attacks. So it turned out he wasn't actually immune to status effects.

He took a deep breath and got up, using the spear as a third leg.

His main problem was that he didn't actually know -how- to fight. It wasn't as if she was trying to kill him, resemblance to Ayanami Rei aside. If she was, then Tabitha wouldn't have been using attacks that he could actually dodge. A duel. He shivered. He could almost see in in his mind, her young form torn and violated. His instincts were not those of a fighter. Kensuke was useless as a buffer. He pointed to the sword still left unused on the field, and Tabitha relaxed slightly. She took several careful steps back as he walked towards Derflinger and put on the straps to let the sword hang off his back.

"About time, partner. Any reason why you're not fighting back?"

Shinji blinked. "... any reason why you're not affected by this Silencing spell, Derf-san? Hey! I'm not affected anymore." In somewhat petulant tone "This would be more useful if I were a mage."

"The bond between a swordsman or woman between his or her blade is stronger than the puny wand-waving of any mage!"

"Oh gods." Shinji wanted to put a palm to his face, but wisely kept an eye on his opponent. "But I'm not a swordsman, Derf-san."

The sword proved it could chuckle evilly. "Oh, but you will be, boy. You will be. Now- to the left!" Shinji narrowly avoided being impaled by a spike of ice. Being able to condense ice right out of the air and send them flying- that didn't sound like an easy spell, at least having to combine maybe Water and Wind. That Tabitha could do it so easily... Shinji wondered which would actually make him feel worse. Punching a cute girl in the face or getting stabbed again. If Asuka were around, she would be able to get him out of this 'gentleman nonsense', but Kensuke had his own delusions of fair play.

All mages needed to have some device to focus their magic. That was obvious vulnerability. Shinji charged forth, the spear-point angled down. Magic flooded his body, and as the ice spikes became smaller, faster, and more numerous he found it easier to knock individual slivers out of the way. His body felt light, and the slightest change in the angle of how his foot touched the ground threw him from side to side. He flipped the spear over and stabbed out with the blunt end.

There was a resounding crack. Tabitha stood with her staff held out at arms-length, her posture braced, and immovable as a mountain. The spear-end had struck and was stuck along her mage staff's end. Shinji had both feet on the ground now, holding the spear in an overhead stab. Around them, icicles fell.

Shinji saw satisfaction flicker across Tabitha's gaze. He was not the first to fall for that. For many lesser mages, that was a weakness. For a mage of her skill and experience, that just put the enemy exactly where it couldn't dodge.

There was a sizable explosion. A globe of glittering ice flakes blew out, covering everything. As it thinned, the two combatants revealed themselves. They were quite some distance away from each other, both on their knees in identical postures, clinging to their respective pole weapons for support. They were breathing heavily, and their heads and shoulders were caped with a light sprinkling of snow.

Derflinger was laughing. "There! That's what I was waiting for, partner! Barriers are the natural counterpoint to magic! You can do that… so it's true after all. Waiting so long, another one like you will come along!"

Ignoring the weirdness of the magical talking sword for the moment, Shinji forced himself back to his feet. The girl was no ordinary mage. He thought about just letting her beat on him for a while, it wasn't like there was much that could be done to kill him, but in the end rejected it due to the inconvenient period of convalescence. Louise would not be pleased. He would be stuck on a bed with nothing but the voices in his head for company, for days or even weeks, and the hell with that noise.

Deep inside him, something wanted to roar. He wanted to just surrender to the rage, to show the world the foolishness of drawing the notice of something such as him. He swayed on his feet. Gritting his teeth, he forced it back. Man in some deep part was still an animal, and that old, primal power sluiced through the normal barriers that separated his external awareness from the greater mass of humanity, of his core identity, inside the Well of Souls.

He was the vessel of humanity, and while that existence had its own limits, no one could deny him that he was only human by choice and their blessing. He was also all the hatred of a world that was broken and violated.

_'Oh my gods.'_ the boy realized with horror. _'I'm a kaiju.'_

_'Born too big, too powerful. That is their tragedy.'_ Kensuke added sagely.

He looked up to see that Tabitha had already recovered, a funnel of wind howling around her. Her skirt and cape fluttered, drawing attention to how she was standing on tiptoes. Motes of light from her magic lit up her face. A beautiful, innocent manslayer. Shinji sighed. "What should I do…?"

No way around it. His was the measly power of his physical form, the unreliably and deeply distrusted foreign magic intruding into it, or the total loss of control, sanity, and limitations.

"Hm? You're talking to me?" asked Derflinger.

Sadly "You're the only one I can rely on now, magical talking sword sir."

"Partner, hey, listen. Most mages have some habitual combat range. In short ranges less than ten steps away, you don't need much power and spells can come flying quickly. At long ranges beyond twenty steps, it's more difficult to hit but because they're putting that much power in each spell anyway it's going to hurt you more. In the middle is where they have to worry about being countered. Knew it or not, you did something good when you ran from battle early on... you made the girl waste some of her energy in distance attacks."

"This... this is where knives would have been useful." Shinji moaned. "I could just keep on throwing them from a distance."

"Boy, what makes you think a good Wind mage won't just throw those knives back."

"That's giving me back my own ammunition! Lucky!"

"This feeling. It's familiar. So familiar. It's not knowing if my user is actually smart or an idiot." Derflinger spoke up suddenly. "Partner! There's your enemy! Go hit her with your stick."

"Uh... hai!" The boy moved.

"... so much the same. Still I don't know."

i

i

Information was the second most important thing to a thief. A thug could wait in a dark place and just hope for someone to come along, the contents of whose wallet was out of proportion to the ability to defend it. To find wealth, and to escape pursuit, a much smarter criminal was far more discriminatory. A thief needed to know where to find objects of value. The most valuable thing to a thief was time. Time to oneself, time to flee, time and freedom ahead of interruption or capture. Trying to randomly ransack every house was a stupid waste of time.

Where then, could a thief gather a list of potential bounties. One was to infiltrate high society, to take from the lips of arrogant nobles just what it was that they valued most. The inherent problem with this that it required a certain level of wealth and influence… enough that someone who could afford this method of information gathering would have little incentive to indulge in petty thievery.

There were more than one type of nobles, however. If one didn't care to go to parties and pretend, one would be just as well served by eavesdropping or finding a convenient list. If information was power, then Foquet wondered how it was that people continually overlooked just how much power they gave Tristain Academy as a record-keeping institution.

Not until recently however, had Foquet considered taking on the Academy as a target in itself. It was too useful, but it was steadily becoming far too bothersome. A thief didn't like to be tied down for too long.

Pressing a foot against the wall, Fouquet felt the wall's power and couldn't help but admire it. _'The main tower of the Academy is as strong as it looks… is a physical attack really its only weakness? I can't break through something this thick without attracting attention.' _ It wasn't hard for an expert in earth magic like Fouquet to check a wall's thickness with their feet, but breaking a wall was completely different. _'It looks like they used only hardening spells on it, but I can't even break this with a golem. Damn it… and I already got this far."_ The thief's teeth grit in frustration. "I'm not leaving the Staff of Destruction, no matter what."

While concentrating on how to solve the problem, the thief's attention was drawn to the courtyard below. 'Some more students with their play-fighting.' Foquet noted dismissively. Far enough and involved enough with each other, the thief felt safe enough. However, they might get others to come out and investigate. What a poor coincidence.

The battlefield below erupted in white smoke. Foquet drew the cloak overhead and slid back to behind the curve of the tower wall. The thief let out an eep of surprise as chunks of rock slapped against the cloth. Wait... rock? The light of the moon showed it clearly to keen, observant eyes. Though not significant compared to the sheer size of the tower, magically-reinforced bricks were blasted right out of their mortar.

i

i

A cluster of ice spikes rising from the ground stalled the boy, slowing him by half a step lest he impale himself. That moment was enough for another wind bullet to strike him in the gut. Again he was blown off his feet. Coughing, he crawled back to his knees. Carefully he removed his black manservant's jacket, sliding the sleeves under the strap keeping Derflinger's scabbard on his back. Snarling soundlessly, he stabbed the collapsible spear into the ground and hauled himself back to his feet.

He took great lungfuls of air. Sweat and blood dripped from his brow. His shoulders shook with the heaving effort of breathing, but slowly his gasps began to even out. His breathing grew shallower and shallower, the shaking subsiding into solidity, until it seemed like he wasn't even breathing anymore at all.

"Partner? You've gone quiet all of a sudden. Where'd you go?" Derflinger asked. "It's cold here. It's cold and dark."

He looked up and hell was in his eyes.

Tabitha nodded. Finally. This was no longer the self-effacing little servant nor the silent, studious little mage girl.

Again, he ran to get into range, while Tabitha began her pattern of wind bullets and ice walls. Unlike before, there was now a fluidity to both their motions, a seamless dance of danger and dodging. Explosions that would have thrown off the boy earlier, not he just leapt through. Invisible whips of wind, he slid under. Spikes of ice, he effortlessly just hopped upon.

_'Not everyone you hold in you hates you, Ikari. There are those who want to give you everything you want, whenever you want, instant access to the limitless power of the Well of Souls. Of course, when that support base is led by old man Keel, that kinda erodes the validity of the position. We're different. Sohryu's about pure power, pure suffering. Akagi's about the power of discovery? Me? Knowledge. Useless knowledge. Until you need it._

_Ikari! I will show you your moves!'_

"[PROGRAM LOAD] NORTHERN MANTIS STYLE!" Derflinger shouted suddenly.

His spear spinning in his palm, the boy dived from the sky. The spear-point flashed in the moonlight, pausing suddenly and then suddenly stabbing, it looked like silvered leaves falling. Tabitha was hard-pressed to keep parrying with her mage staff.

There was a ripping noise. A tear appeared on her white shirt, exposing that despite her very modest endowments Tabitha did wear a bra. She frowned. Slightly. A tornado centered around herself erupted, throwing Shinji into the air again. She followed that up with three blasts of cutting wind.

The boy landed on his feet, ready for more. Then, the collapsible spear fell apart in his hands. The wood was sliced clean through. Not missing a beat, he took on step back as the spear-tip slowly tumbled down. He kicked quickly, sending the spearhead darting across the distance. Tabitha watched calmly, and it bounced off some sort of windy shield.

Shinji was left holding two sticks. "[PROGRAM LOAD] E-E-ESKRIMA!" Derflinger shouted again. "Huh? Why did I say that just now?"

He -flickered-. One moment, thirty paces away. In the next, right at her face. No stranger to dealing with beasts much faster than herself, Tabitha's body responded even when her mind was yet unready to accept the change. Spikes of ice erupted from the ground, impaling inwards towards herself. The spikes missed just so, the largest ending less than an inch from her neck, but they sufficed. Shinji was forced to leap away lest he get rammed up by an ice spike his backside.

Slyphid watched from one of the gabled roofs. Her serpetine eyes missed nothing. Down below, Tabitha had her eyes closed. The vision of a wind dragon had much greater ability to discern rapid shifts of motion than any mere human's. Flicking in and away, from the ground level it would have been abrupt and unpredictable. From her perch, she could clearly see the lines of approach.

Tak. Tak. Tak. Tak. Wood upon wood. Tabitha had never been physically strong, and was being forced back by the hammering rain of blows. She was doing extremely well all considering at just being able to barely keep him at bay. Until, finally, Shinji apparently just gave up on all subtlety and tackled her into the ground.

Tabitha grimaced faintly as she was trapped by her own staff at her neck. With him sitting on her, there was no leverage. She kicked and writhed to no avail. His face was still set into that emotionless, inhuman mask.

Sylphied gave out a feral screech and dived. Shinji rolled aside, letting go of the staff, as the infant wind dragon snapped to bite his head off. A buffet from a tough leathery wing sent him tumbling across the field again.

"Two on one now?" Derflinger sneered. "What kind of duel is this? Oh? You're back, partner?"

Groaning, the boy forced himself back to his knees. When he looked up, his eyes were again warm brown. The unnatural strength from earlier had faded, leaving only the price of an adrenaline crash. He gasped for breath. Tabitha looked fresh as ever. The expression in their eyes however- that stubborn refusal to die, spitting in the face of the universe, to survive no matter what... it was identical. Those were the eyes of those who had accepted the eventuality of their own deaths, only now determined to make the price of their demise as dear as possible.

Tabitha could understand what it was that Kirche could find so compelling in the boy. It was why she found it so difficult to forgive. For this one to do violence against her precious friend... somehow, it felt like she'd done it herself. Unacceptable. Unforgivable.

Shinji Ikari reached out with his left hand and touched a sword hilt. "[PROGRAM LOAD] ZWEIHANDER." Derflinger announced.

Despite her appearance, Tabitha was starting to feel she had bitten off more than she could chew. Already she'd shed too much magic. It was only her iron discipline against her hated flesh that kept her from showing any weakness. Her opponent looked much worse off, but he should have stopped a long time ago. The boy was broken, bruised and bloody, but unfortunately his personal reserves were just this side of infinite.

A princess and her dragon. From an early age sent out in missions that would have been suicidal for grown men, succeeding again and again, hers was the power claimed by burning her childhood on the pyres of experience. A disgraced knight errant. The last of his order, never having protected anything or anyone, rejected even by the sea of chaos that was his home. Which was the monster?

The air crackled as battle re-commenced. A simulated life-or-death encounter... even under self-imposed chains and boundaries, they would empty their vessels.

i

i

A small quake rocked the castle. Kirche woke up. "Wait, what...?"

Soon after she was banging on Louise's door. "Valliere! Wake up, you lazy brat! I'll break this door down! Wake up, something's happening!"

"Oh, something's happening all right..." Louise sleepily murmured. "I will break. Your. Face."

She had no chance to do anything however, as Kirche immediately yanked her into running down the hall. The two girls paused and clung to the wall as another quake rumbled through the castle. "What are those two idiots doing?" Kirche blurted out.

i

i

Tabitha couldn't help but to make a small grunt of pain and surprise. She blew away the dust to see her opponent had cut open a stone wall. Sylphied snapped and lunged, and even the broadsword looked like a needle in comparison to the dragon's mighty jaws, but needles could still hurt. Tabitha sent a small brace of ice daggers, but the boy took one hand away from the sword and opened his palm towards her. The magical blades of ice smashed harmlessly upon a flickering red barrier.

Sylphid lunged again, putting her full weight behind the charge. She slammed against a larger flickering hexagonal barrier. The much smaller boy didn't budge by the slightest fraction of an inch.

The vulnerability was obvious. The barriers required him to wave his arms around, the same way a mage had to use a wand. He was also unable to move while using the barriers; apparently he had to use his own location in space and time as a reference point to manipulate them. Shinji grimaced as a lash of wind tore a strip of shirt and skin out of his back. He reversed his hold on the expensive Germanian sword, and held back the wind dragon with nothing but its flat edge. He slapped at Slyphid's snout and blocked with it braced against his forearm. With his left hand he swept out again, and a chain of small red hexes formed. Each and every one spun out and met each and every one of the myriad cold projectiles coming rapid-fire from the curve in Tabitha's staff.

Sylphid let out a loud screech and slammed her head into the boy's guard. Shinji willed his puny human bones not to break, so they didn't give way. The supposedly indestructible sword, however- shattered.

Dropping the pieces, the boy crossed his arms together and formed a large curving barrier even as he was again thrown across the air. Explosions battered the shield as he fell, finally losing cohesion as he couldn't in space anymore.

He landed heavily, his feet digging into soil up to the ankles. _'Am I alive yet?' _he wondered numbly. It still felt so -weird-. Fighting as a human being, and not as extension of an Evangelion. He was beginning to get an idea of what this was about. No one fought this hard without some sort of prize in mind, or something to prove, or something to claim. This was... punishment, pure and simple._ 'Dammit. Yes. I -hate- you.'_

_'Your pimp hand was not strong enough.'_ Kensuke added sagely.

"Nnngrh. I suppose, you won't accept if I just say I'm sorry? That I'll never do it again?" Shinji plaintively asked Tabitha. No. They understood the look in each other's eyes. Still unbroken, still undefeated. It would be meaningless if the price wasn't paid. Pain and injury was very poor coin, the way the boy stood proved that. It meant nothing to him; and thus worthless as an offering.

A dark shape obscured the moons. Sylphid landed on the other side, pacing with muted hostile intent. Shinji reached for the sword on his back and yelped from the stinging electric pain running up his fingers.

"The piece of junk fell apart because you forced all the magic out of it. I -can- absorb your power well enough, partner, that's how it was made, a sword and the swordsman shares one soul, but it's very dangerous... soul magic... you realize this? Throwing your soul out so easily. I've seen what happens when it breaks. It's not pretty,partner. It's so dangerous."

"Not to me, Derf-san."

"Hmf." Derflinger deferred to the voice of age and experience. It was a strange, and fascinating experience to be in touch with someone actually older than him for a change. "I can tell you haven't really fought mages before. You did better against the dragon than against the girl. Any plans?"

"Um..." Shinji looked over at his condition. Louise was going to be pissed. The sleeves of his shirt were gone, and he was running around barefooted. This was going to use up his meager little stipend from the kitchen. Fortunately he wasn't above begging to borrow money from working-class commoners. He sighed. Yeah. Just like how scars formed over wounds, and muscles knit together stronger from being slightly torn from exercise, so did his mortal shell decide to toughen him up after every life-threaning incident. He had to get this done before he was stripped naked. "Ow!" Shinji reached for Derflinger and again was rejected by the sword.

"Training is one thing, but in battle don't pull me out unless it's serious, partner. Learn to walk before you try to run."

"Derf-san... I'm sorry if this sounds offensive, but... I'm a lot more deadly with my bare hands than with any sharp weapon in my hands."

"A scrawny brat like you? I... almost believed that for one second." It was not all that unlikely. Sadly, magic was vindictive like that. "It's obvious from the start what you need! What you wish for! Control! That can't be given to you- earn it yourself!"

The boy's shoulders drooped as Silphied charged from behind, her wings flapping powerfully to add even more force to the assault. Even the dragon was getting annoyed; no human should be able to drop a dragon, apex predator of the magical word, on its haunches so easily. A large reddish-orange barrier appeared. Sylphid jack-knifed her body, her forelegs pistoning against the ground, and leapt -over- it.

Shinji dropped the barrier and switched it over to defending against Tabitha's magic. The boy dropped to a half-crouch, wth his left arm wardingly held out. He stepped back several times as several tons of angry teeth and muscle bore down upon him.

Then, suddenly, Slyphied veered aside as something large and orangeish slammed into her neck. More in surprise than in pain, the infant wind dragon toppled. Shinji blinked. "Flame-san?"

Much smaller than the wind dragon, the salamander nevertheless huffed and made the larger beast back down. The wide plumes of fire wouldn't do more than singe, but Sylphid was lost in how to deal with a creature she'd never until then considered an enemy.

A storm of fist-sized balls of hard ice rained. Shinji put his arms over his head and cowered, enduring the heavy spheres just to get moving. "Huooooh...!"

"[PROGRAM LOAD: Hokuto Shin Ke-"

"Oh hell no." Shinji spat suddenly. He reached back and pulled out Derflinger. This time, there was no shock of refusal. His speed instantly increased, and the globes of ice might as well have perfectly frozen in mid-air.

_'Ow! Ow! Class rep? How did you get ... ouch! Leggo!'_

_'I'll take care of this. Sorry for the bother, Shinji-kun. You can go back to your normal business now.'_

Kirche was screaming in the distance. Tabitha and Shinji nodded at each other, feeling a flush of furtive shame. They were like little children getting caught doing something they'd promised never to attempt. One last thing, then.

i

i

White mist flooded out to fill the courtyard. Kirche and Louise stumbled in. The tip of Kirche's wand glowed with bright amber light, she held it up while yelling "Heey! Heeey! Cut it out, you two! You're going to wake up the teachers! Where are you? Tabithaaa! Dear Shiinji!"

Louise followed up with "You stupid familiar! What foolishness are you up to now?"

There was a hard, loud crunch somewhere off to her left. The two young mages stumbled through the fog until they reached a wall. There, slumped against the bottom, lay the two exhausted fighters. Shinji had his right arm protectively around Tabitha's neck and shoulders, while the slim girl's hands rested on his chest. A staff and an old sword were planted into the ground on either side. It was an unexpectedly intimate pose.

"Tabitha!" Kirche screeched. "What's the meaning of this? I thought you said you weren't going to be my rival. What have you been up to?"

Tabitha lazily opened her eyes, saw her friend, and tiredly closed them again. "Lesson." she said.

"Learned." Shinji added, weakly raising his left hand for a wave at Louise. "H-hi, ma-master..."

"You... you... you jerk! How dare you bully Tabitha."

Shinji glanced aside to Tabitha, as if to ask _'Do you feel bullied?'_

Her even gaze returned _'Don't make me kick your ass again.'_

Kirche moaned and flicked her hair. "I don't understand what's going on, but..." Suddenly she bent down and grabbed Shinji's left hand and Tabitha's right hand, and clasped them together under her own palms. "But we're all friends now, yes?" she asked. Her eyes glittered joyfully.

Tabitha looked up . _'She's a good person.' _she tried to communicate with a look. She deserved more. She turned back to Kirche and nodded.

_'Not like us.' _Shinji wanted to reply. Maybe he'd been to hasty. Kirche may exude raw sexuality, but she was a precious friend to Tabitha. There had to be more to her personality than just an excitable bimbo. She was someone who shed living warmth and spontaneity into an existence that until then had known nothing but cold, bland predictability. In short, she was Tabitha's own Asuka. He sighed and smiled weakly. Kirche squealed with glee.

Louise, standing apart, fidgeted in place. She had no idea what was going on, but knew enough to say she didnt like it. She didn't like that weird girl clinging so close to her familiar. She didn't like that von Zerbst woman being so happy for some reason. And... Shinji raised his left arm, stringy and grass-stained, and beckoned. His expression was pleading.

When Louise was close enough, he unexpectedly reached out and suddenly grabbed her hand. "Wha-!" Louise was yanked down into the ground, stumbling to her knees. Before she could get too angry, she found that her hand was placed right over Kirche's.

The Germanian woman looked puzzled. Louise scowled, trying to pull away from skin contact. "Let go! What do you think you're doing? I'll never be friends with a von Zerbst!"

"Oh, but you will, master. Please. Give yourself the chance." Shinji mumbled weakly. Unconsciously his thumb began stroking the flap of flesh between Louise's fore and middle fingers. "We all need friends."

Louise blushed deeply, all protests dying at the tip of her tongue. She shivered, and not from the night air.

Tabitha let out a sigh and snuggled deeper into Shinji's side. "Hey!" Kirche complained again. "Tabitha... make your intentions clear."

"Tired." the girl replied. So noisy. She just wanted to go to sleep. She was a girl of simple means and simple desires.

Shinji leaned over and put his cheek on top of the blue-haired girl's head. A deliciously yandere blue-haired girl. She smelled like home. It was never about power… but connections. The balance was restored. The world made sense again. He was asleep within moments, and his face was open and unguarded in contented relief. Kirche and Louise looked at each other, deeply suspicious, but having to rush and work together to get their two completely exhausted friends out of there as others drawn by the commotion were starting to arrive. .

i

i

Clinging to the side of the central tower, Foquet touched again the damaged section of the magically-reinforced castle wall. The one right outside the Academy's treasury room. That was an interesting little skirmish... what kind of spells were those kids using, if just by incidental damage they could crack a permanence spell not even a master Earth mage couldn't dispel? Stronger even than Square-class mages... ah, how the youth liked to test the patience and experience of those who came before them. The thief smirked. This could prove useful.

However, even as she slid off the wall to the shelter of darkness, even Foquet was being watched. Two more figures observed the little goings-on in the deep of night, their outlines faintly visible as distortions in the air behind a gabled roof.

As Kirche had to levitate her stupidly earnest and now well-deservedly injured friends back to their beds, and Louise followed pouting, no one noticed a little red dot linger on the back of Louise's head. Watching through crosshairs, the thermo-optically cloaked figure had to mightily force herself to put down her beam rifle.

i

i

i

Aftermath:

i

Personalities tended to take longer than a single night to change. Louise was still irritable and easily taunted, Kirche still vain and clingy, and Tabitha still preferred the company of her books to the noise and chaos of people. However, it was as if the air was lighter now, and they spent the next day in exagerrated normalcy.

As the teachers and rumors roamed about what happened to the courtyard, they acted completely above such discussion. No one had any proof, no one should even have to look for any proof. Since Tabitha was normally so calm and trouble-free, no one paid any attention to that she was all but ouright ignoring the class again. With her head down, looking at the book, no one seemed to notice that she had yet to turn the page. Kirche had to prod her after each class.

Shinji at the kitchen tended to the soups. His body still hurt all over. Nevertheless, there was a surety to his movements that was missing from yesterday. Therapeutic beatdown was therepeutic, some might say.

And, when lunchtime came around, Kirche and Tabitha sat at the opposite end of the table to Louise and Shinji. Louise grumbled a bit, but made no protest. No words were said or needed. It struck them all how strange... that it felt so absolutely normal. The change they'd been expecting or dreading, it never arrived. In the end they were just students hanging around with each other in their free time. Greater things however, had begun with even less fanfare.

So began some of their most pleasant memories of student life. These blissful days of study, bickering, and the formation of a weird but lasting friendships... Shinji relished these innocent, never-again to come again times. The peace lasted a mere handful of days.

* * *

AN:

Despite the excellent effort of my pre-readers (thanks, TFF), I tend to get stupid with my source document, so please... if there are still any errors, feel free to chime in. :) Unlike my other fics, this isn't about power and curbstompy battles. Because it would be so -easy-, I'd like to avoid it. Thanks for reading, and please review or criticize if you feel like it.


	4. Chapter 4: Summer

**Points of Familiarity **

chapter four

i

i

i

i

It was a room without walls and a roof, and it was lit from below. An intricate overlapping sequence of curves, lines, circles and sigils glowed faint green. The strange etchings were not merely eldritch symbols, but was a densely-packed with mathematical constructs and self-programming arrays. Figures in shapeless robes, their faces hidden under hoods, chanted unintellegibly while tapping their long staffs in a rythmic cadence. As the wooden staffs struck the floor, the glowing of the etchings would briefly intensify. They stood in a circle around a blank spot in the complicated magical seal.

Suddenly, the entire thing flared bright, and a pentagram appeared on the blank spot. The glowing shape spun slowly in untrammeled space. There rose a pleased murmuring from the gathered summoners.

"_Ahak rim ahis rom_

_By the blood of the Great Mother_

_That stains this river to the sea_

_Open the eyes of the betrayed Other_

_We surrender our fate to this mystery_

_Ahak rim ahis rom_

_One thousand twenty-four point seal complete_." they said together, their tones weary.

"She has set the anchor and lit the guidelight." one of the eleven grand sages said with an old woman's voice. Under her hood glowed three pairs of eyes. "We can now begin again."

"Good... good. She is reliable as always. Too many have already sacrificed their lives just to open this gateway, and this duty... it's got to be painful for her. We are too few these days, Romanova." replied another, in a voice faintly metallic. "Ah. Our Reverend Keeper comes."

Magic was singing. It was always easy to tell when the old man was nearby. He was one of the last of the true mages, retaining his identity through sheer force of will; magic itself refusing to let him die. He walked bent over, lacking thelong white beard usually expected from grand old sages. Instead his white hair, still naturally wavy, was kept cut short in the style he wore in his youth. His skin was stretched over his skull, giving him deceptively jolly expression with high cheeks and a shadowed grin. Only his sunken, serious eyes showed the grim finality of purpose that ensured this conclave's survival through the destruction of one world and into the next.

Beside him walked a reminder of what once had; all the power and the grace of youth, with wavy blond hair, fair skin, and a face with a faintly arrogant tilt. The young man had the lithe lean frame of a runner. He wore an armored black bodysuit and carried a full-face helmet under his arm.

"I won't fail you, father." Durant said aside, before stepping up to the waiting gap.

"Obey her. She has done this before." the Reverend Sage whispered. His bony frame, once possessing power unmatched except by a mere handful of people he'd known through all his long life, carried his white robes like a walking tent. His staff was brass, and he pointed it in benediction. "Beware Him. He was my friend, once. And then I understood his power."

The young man touched his belt buckle. "And made it yours." he replied with a cocky grin. "I've been training for this my whole life, father. Don't worry. I'll make things right again. I'll give you back your world."

"Don't get too overconfident, young Son of the Mountain." warned one of the eleven grand sages. "Lives fuel every second this is translocation seal if active. Fail, and it will be at least two years before we can try again..." Probably more, since writing directly into Fate left almost certainly fatal backlash on those who dared attempt it. "Conserve your energy. Unlike the Daystar Renegade, whose existence can fill a prexisting mesh, your metaphysical pattern will be woven into the old order."

The others began to chant "_Erst arav nahal reon_

_The sun rises on an unknown shore_

_In name of Him that stands on two rivers_

_Let that which is broken be no more_

_And let the fates of man reverse_

_Erst arav nahal reon_

_Eight-dimensional array open_."

There was a loud blast of air and sound, a spiraling white whip of wind howling out of a small hole in the center of the arcane arrangement. One of the sages collapsed, blood staining the glowing lines. The others continued their chanting heedless of the pressures that seemed to grip their skulls.

"Fight well, my son." the Reverend Keeper said sadly. The young would be gone for no more than eight hours, but no power of prophecy could say what would happen to his last surviving family in that time. "Where you're going they might not understand, but don't mind what you see or hear. Save the worlds from being erased."

The young man nodded stiffly and put on his helmet. Its faceplate glowed, showing a lattice reminiscent of compound eyes. That was ever their mantra, wasn't it? Be more efficient. Make best use of what little they had left. It was why they had to send just two people; long gone were days their armies could shake the earth. He stepped into the gap and the pentagram burst into a vertical shower of softly shining white motes. He stared at his glowed palms, intent in horrid fascination, as slowly he too began to dissolve into light. He expected pain, but there was just this numbness akin to the freezing cold. He was getting dizzy, and that was when he realized the top of his head was already starting to collapse into the magical stream. Soon he knew nothing more.

He blinked. He looked up and saw two moons.

"_Eight dimensional array closed_." his belt announced.

He sensed something, but before he could even begin to react he was already in pain, bent over dry-heaving and clutching his gut.

"Hello, Junior." he heard a crooning feminine whisper. "Just a little reminder. We don't have time for little games."

Oh gods. No one was as brutally efficient as -her-. Her body was designed specifically to cut through mages by the thousands, an unstoppable one-woman army where his suit was designed for adaptability and bombardment. She was even older than his father, and made up in meanness what she lacked in magic. Worse yet, she would forever see him as that infant that was fascinated with the taste of his own shit. Babies had a right to be stupid, a grown man didn't need to be shown pictures. Durant nodded slowly.

As he got up he reflexively caught something red. He just barely managed to keep his enhanced strength from squishing the spherical object. "What's this?"

"It's an apple. Have your first taste of some real food while we're off to my safehouse." The woman, starkly outlined against the stars, touched her eyepatch fondly. "We've only got a few hours before He wakes up and we've got to be ready when we confront him again." She turned around and began walking towards the woods around Tristain Academy.

Durant looked dubious, but he decided he didn't want to test disobedience of even such a small order. The faceplate of his helmet flipped up, and he cautiously took a bite. He almost gagged at how sweet it was. What was this place? Scents from all over reached his nose. So this was the world they left behind. He wondered how terrible was this thing, that could cause such deathless engines as both her and his father, so easily admit to fear.

-o-

-o-

It was early morning of a balmy summer in Halkeginia. Tristain Academy castle had more to fear from winter, since its cold stones and tall windows and ceilings gave natural air circulation. Miss Longueville had more to complain about the many stairs she needed to climb, a natural side-effect of that architecture. She entered the headmaster's office, closing the door behind her.

"It must be serious if the palace is sending -him- as a messenger." she commented idly as she turned towards a row of bookshelves. She chose not to mention how -that- messenger leered at her breasts and asked her out to dinner, nor why she'd decided to accept.

"Ah, yes. The Academy, as you should already know, shelters some old and valuable artifacts. There's this thief going around causing trouble,and the palace is concerned about our level of security. Better to be safe than sorry, as they say."

"Well, I hope the Academy is secure." the secretary replied evenly. "I've seen the treasury. It's high up in the tower, it should be hard to get to, right? Should we be worrying, sir? It would take an army of mages to do it, I think."

"Fouquet of the Crumbling Sands." Old Osmond murmured speculatively.

There was a loud *thump* as Miss Longueville missed the empty spot where she was reshelving the books. Slowly she turned around. "What about Fouquet?" She was relieved to see that the headmaster had turned around his chair to face. He did that when he didn't want to make it too obvious he wanted to sleep on the job.

"It sure has become a dangerous world, hasn't it, Miss Longueville? It makes me long for the days when a man could lie on his bed, secure that his hard-won wealth wouldn't be taken from him."

The secretary returned to her task, and carefully kept her tone midly disinterested. "I wouldn't say it's hard-won to claim inheritance, but I understand what you're saying, sir. But what do you mean dangerous? Losing a few trinkets doesn't sound like dangerous as being accosted on the streets."

"I'm sure you've heard of the term, knowledge is power, my dear. To think, a single thief is causing so much mischief that the palace must remind even this school to keep its treasures well. Ah! It's a sad state of affairs, if one of my students has fallen so far."

"That's... it doesn't have to be a Tristain Academy graduate right? Although now that I think about it, a foreigner going around the nations causing this much trouble, it sounds suspicious, doesn't it?"

Sir Osmond yawned. "A long time ago... there was a cult named Hasasheen, who made the world think there was one immortal assassin. It says a lot about how effective they were, when the word we use for a murderer-for-hire comes from their lost language."

"Fascinating." Miss Longueville replied dryly. "What happened to them?"

"Ohh. Elves got them in the end... hhzzzz." Unfortunately no mere human murderer could match up to the other, older, legendary horror.

-o-

Bliss. Pure bliss. The boy had enough work during the day to keep him from being bored, and enough petty orders to endure to keep himself from getting too comfortable. The little stipend he got was barely enough to buy anything, but as a familiar he did get free food and housing. It wasn't like wealth and power were of any meaningful concern to someone allergic to the idea of being exalted. More precious was that he'd found people whose existence he could do more than just endure... but appreciate. He felt as if he belonged- a most strange sensation, since he was as foreign and dangerous to the world as anything could possibly be.

Terror. Pure terror. It was a good life. If things could last like that forever, it would be just -fine-. This was why he was absolutely certain something was about to go horribly wrong. The fight with Tabitha a few days ago had warmed up his nerves, leaving him ready for anything but also nearly a nervous wreck. Kirche's ardour and Louise's jealousy didn't help.

Shinji was compelled to apologize to Kirche for wrecking her sword. Kirche waved it away. The voice in his mind had suggested that he do so at night, in her room, while his master was asleep. So of course the boy made sure to make his regrets known in broad daylight just after classes.

"You really want to make it up to me?" Kirche asked slyly.

"As decently as I'm able, Kirche-san."

The tall dark noblewoman pouted cutely. She looked beyond Shinji, to the corner where Louise stood tapping her feet and scowling in indignation. "Maybe later when you're not around someone who destroys all joy." She put a finger to her lips and added thoughtfully "..it was partly Tabitha's fault anyway. If I make you pay for it, then I'd have to make her share the blame too." She knew she had a snowball's chance in hell of getting Tabitha to admit to owing her for that. The smaller girl had clear views on collateral damage.

If Kirche thought that would give her new target any comfort, it only provoked the opposite reaction.

-o-

"Oh this is bad." Shinji muttered to himself as he worked. "When the karma for this hits back, it's going to be big..."

_'Karma is supposed to reward good deeds and punish evil ones.' _Kensuke noted. _'It has nothing to do with balancing out the happiness in the universe.'_

"Didn't we already prove that the universe is nowhere near sane or rational?"

_"Ah, but which one? After all, we already know the blue box works."_

He snorted. Philosophy and cosmology were meaningless to him. Shinji held out the panty he was washing. It was silk, of course. Too much scrubbing would ruin the fabric, but despite that such underwear was not meant to be seen there didn't seem to be any point if it weren't bright, eye-catching white.

He heard a giggle from behind. Hurriedly, Shinji pushed the offending garment back into the bucket.

"Oh, no, it's fine." Siesta said brightly. "It's only normal. Don't be embarrassed." She smoothed out her skirt and sat crouching so she was at eye level. "I think it shows you're healthy." A boy his apparent age would really only be concerned with sex, status, or various obsessions.

Despite himself, Shinji found he was blushing. "Um. Was there something you wanted?"

"Not really." the maid replied. She kept staring at him, until the boy stared to visibly sweat. "I just... don't understand. You really look like you enjoy doing this."

"I wouldn't really say... enjoy... but it's better than doing nothing."

"Where you come from, do they say a story about a princess who is a beast? Someone who is

very beautiful and arrogant and had her face changed to that of a peasant?"

"I'm not really su- oh, wait." Princess, priestess, chieftain's daughter- the story was rediscovered again and again, each time thinking the teller thinking he was clever. It was likely even based on a true story, though likely not with a happy fairy tail ending. He blinked, then looked sick. Oh, dear. He just got both sides of the memory- the original story involved genital, not facial mutilation. "I think... that princess had to live among peasants for a while, right? . There she learned to be humble and to like work. The only way she could be recognized was from a birthmark."

Siesta nodded. She was frowning slightly. "Go on. I want to know if it's different from what I heard as a child."

"Um. It's depends. Most of them have the princess fall in love with the peasant who was always so nice to her no matter how ugly she acted. A lot of times she prefers the simple life compared to a life of pointless luxury. There are endings where she returns to the castle a wiser person, the time spent a poignant memory between her and the peasant.. and other times, the princess marries the peasant, having her father elevate him into nobility. Usually there's another sister, one a lot more naturally virtuous, but not as pretty as the princess in question. She ends up marrying a prince of a different land. Does it really matter who does the changing of the looks?"

Siesta shook her head, frowning more intently now. "Human transfiguration is a lost and forbidden art, but any powerful magician could do it if they knew how. At least, that's how I was told it was in the bad old days."

"I see." Shinji nodded politely and turned back to his task. Not looking up from the tub, he asked "But what does that have to do with now?"

"I'm not so far from home as you, but...seeing you like this, you make me feel like I'm make me remember the first time I heard that story." She could almost hear again the crackling of the fire, the smell of smoked meat, and see the colorful charades casting such eerie shadows. There was magic enough in the theater, she was told, and within the boundaries of the stage all things were possible.

"I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault. That story, that princess who wanted to throw away her easy life for a life serving people? Ooh! That made me so angry. Whoever wrote that story, did he think we were stupid or something? Trying to make it look like it's so much more fun to work... that bitch had a week of living like a peasant, would she think it so fun after a month? A year?"

"There's nothing shameful about work."

She couldn't help but to laugh. "That's exactly what my grandfather said. The nobles haven't figured out yet how to make food appear out of nowhere. Without us who farm, harvest, carry and cook... everyone else would starve." Siesta put her hands on her knees and leaned closer, whispering. "I know the moral of that story was supposed to be that it's good to be content, but... to me it sounded like we should find happiness even in slavery. The way it tried to go on and on about how nice it is to be a commoner, about how no one else has had such fun as cleaning and cooking and farming... I've never been so angry until then. I was a child, but I really felt that it was insulting."

Siesta was not surprised to know that troupe was pelted with stones in other villages. That play did better in the cities and around the nobles, for some strange reason.

"Well, if it helps, I know a version of ther story where because the princess had such sympathy for the feelings of the peasants, she convinced the king to open up the treasury so no one is rich or poor and to do without taxes."

Siesta laughed gaily. "Oh! That's funny." She tilted her head aside. "In a strange 'they're all doomed and I can't look away' sort of way."

"Do you feel better now?"

Siesta frowned and stood up. "No! I don't understand it. Even if you like being a familiar, even if you like being forced to serve, does that make it right?" It was like saying 'you can't rape the willing', she supposed. It implied that the victim had any choice in the matter.

"Right? Wrong? Those things don't matter to me." He bowed his head, turning away slightly, and in a soft voice said "... is it really so bad if I say want to say? You're here."

Siesta bit her lip to hold back a little giggle. She was a young woman yet, but he was pinging every single one of her maternal instincts. "I don't really want you to go, anyway. I just wanted to make sure you're really happy."

As he poured out the wash water and began to wring out the clothes, Siesta reached over and with a gentle smile got permission to help. It was a little comical to see him trying to wring out the water with his bird-bone wrists and obviously little physical strength.

She looked him over again. Though not very well-educated, she was not stupid. He was so helpless, so innocent and ignorant of so many things, and yet there was also an unyielding core there that no one else could touch. It was only too obvious; the strange happenings didn't start until he arrived. While officially duels were forbidden, students all too often still got into private fights. Only mages of Triangle class could have caused such damage.

Shinji was far too plain-looking and too willing to menial tasks, he couldn't be of noble birth. As a farmer's daughter, walking with him carrying half the load, she sniffed in amusement. "There are some frogs even snakes fear to eat." Tiny things the size of a thumb, whose mere sweat could kill a man. She giggled into her palm.

"Excuse me?"

"Um. No, nothing."

Although technically clean laundry, it still wouldn't do to display them in public. Tristain Academy had discreet corners and levels well away from view where the servants could hang clothes. The lower spokes of the pentagramic castle were classrooms, the left and sides having student dormitories on the upper levels and accessible only by going through the towers stairs. The upwards 'Void' wing where the staff had their quarters; servants on the bottom and the teachers on the higher floors. Tristain Academy was pointed due east, thus on either side of the wing, there were courtyards that may not escape the sun.

Shinji wiped at his forehead. The all-black ensemble of a manservant may be stylish, but damn, it soaked up the heat. Louise had arbitrarily decided to double his workload by changing shirts in mid-day or at the slightest hint of dirt.

"I want to see it." said Siesta.

"Um, what?" Shinji pushed aside the row of shirts to Sieta hanging the skirts on the other drying line. The maid had puffed-up her cheeks and a mulish look in her eyes.

"I apologize if this is being too forward and impolite of me, but... I want to see it. That private part of you that you let only those noble girls see."

"Excuse me?" the boy's voice pitched up oddly.

Siesta put both hands to her mouth and blushed. "I... that's not... I mean, you're more than just a servant, aren't you? I know you can fight. Please don't try to hide that part of yourself from me." _'Are you ashamed that I know about your pain? We didn't mean to force it out of you, but with us you don't have to pretend!' _Her mouth made the motions, but she couldn't say it. "I just wish you don't have to think you must change yourself just to get other people's approval."

She was starting to crumple the fabric in her hands. The begging note in her voice made Shinji wonder if really, her insistance was really all about his benefit. "But I don't like violence." Shinji whined. "I have to do it because I was attacked so suddenly and I had to fight for my life. It's better to have a life full of meaningful events, instead of momentous ones. Some people might think that boring, but that's what I like."

Siesta brightened up at that. "You really, really do sound like him." She giggled and put her hands on her cheeks. "When I'm around you, it's like a little girl again. You should probably stop doing that, or I won't be able to control myself!"

"Siesta-san... you're the kind of girl in the playground that was tougher than all the boys put together, weren't you?"

"Ah! What did I say about my name,Shinjiii-SAN?"

"Fine, fine. Okay, I'm done now, Siesta. I guess... I'll just see you at lunch later?" And slyly "Don't you have work of your own to do? I certainly don't pay you to follow me around."

The maid scowled a bit. "With respect, did you know you're the perfect size to be grabbed by me in a headlock and given a noogie?" There was a triumphant little sneer on her face as he raised his arms in surrender.

-o-

All in all, Siesta felt she was having a good day and it showed. She couldn't exactly say it was lonely being in the castle, she had plenty of friends among her co-workers. Unlike most of them however, who lived in the village nearby, she had lodgings in the castle. Even if there were religious holidays that served to give servants some 'time off', more than mere distance kept the feeling of home from her heart.

The boy didn't understand what it meant, that she could say he could make this old castle feel like home. She giggled as she rubbed a banister. With a towel in her hands she stroked it up and down and rubbed it around and around. The banisters were made of old hardwood and there was a scuff in the varnish she wanted to buff out. She was a freeman's daughter, and while she may just be a maid now, Siesta took pride in the work of her hands. She sucked on her finger, wetting it thoroughly, and rubbed the saliva on the stain. Placing the rag on the scuff, and putting pressure with her thumb, she began to jerk the up and down her arms. When she removed the rag, the oils around the scuff had rubbed in and stained it to the proped color. Siesta grinned, wiping her forehead. She kissed her left forefinger in triumph and raised it triumphantly.

Siesta laughed and stretched out. "Ooh, that felt goood." Physical activity gave her a heady feeling of having accomplished something worthwhile, which over the lingering good mood from earlier made her feel as if the day just couldn't get any better.

It was just unfortunate that a noble messenger had just come from the castle to warn Headmaster Osmond about the thief Fouquet and for the Academy to make sure its own valuables were well-protected. He was just descending the staircase just then. _'Magnificent.'_ thought Count Mott, while tugging on his pencil mustache. _'Commoner girls certainly do have... stamina, don't they?'_

The day may not get any better, but it could always go worse. Siesta heard clapping and saw a richly-dressed noble approach from above. His mustache and eyebrows ended in long curls and long ruffles decore. "Wonderful job, just... wonderful!" the noble said. His leering gaze swept up and down, and the maid gasped, putting her hands over her breasts. That look, fear and suspicion strongly mixed, was like a work of art to Count Mott. The more he looked, the more he was seeing a commoner's own unique charms. That was an expression he would like to see more often, staring up at him, and while the clothing of a maid was too common to be fetishized, the young woman was shapely enough that those curves could be accentuated even more, even through the thick cloth, with a few strategically-placed ropes.

The more he thought about it, the better it sounded. A commoner's body- tight, firm, free of flab. So much to play with, so many experiences that could be explored. With his experience he could make this one love him, or despise him. Adoration or resistance? He found himself almost giddy with anticipation. He could shape that face to his desires. A perfect solution, a kindness really- how else would this little maid hope to even taste a noble's lot in life? By day she would have other maids to order around- he only demanded the night. That was far too generous, even.

"Hello, my little miss." he said in a suave timbre. "Do you know who I am?"

Siesta shook her head and started to back away.

"Well, that doesn't matter. You're so lucky. I'm here to make your life better in ways you can't possibly imagine...!" He couldn't promise it would always be pleasant but, undeniably, it would be sweeter than whatever her current situation.

-o-

Louise felt she was having a rather humdrum day.

It has been little more than a week since the Spring Ritual, and already things had settled to a bland routine. Most of the damage had been repaired, and the teachers were now a bit stricter about imposing curfew and a no-duels policy. Seeing as Tabitha was one of the few Water-aligned skilled enough to attack with hard ice, the blue-haired girl was under suspicion. However, trying to extract any useful information out of her, much less a confession, was an exercise in futility. In the end, Tabitha got away scot-free.

While her theoretical studies were progressing well enough, the practical part still eluded her. She frowned. Unlike, say, Tabitha - the smaller girl was undefeated in class demonstrations. Were it not for that the blue-haired girls showed no interest in furthering her studies over the minimum needed interaction with the teachers, she'd be the best in their year. Louise frowned some more. That sort of apathy was... familiar.

"Tabitha... with her wind dragon... dammit, why does someone smaller than me get to have such a powerful familiar?" she muttered under her breath. It showed that the blue-haired girl was a powerful mage. On the other hand, her own familiar didn't seem to have any serious problem fighting with mages.

To lack power was to lack the ability to make choices. She only had a year of schooling left, and if she didn't prove herself a capable mage then the only career option left for a noblewoman was through marriage. Her problem was that he had power enough to REFUSE her commands, and there was nothing she could do about it. Louise shivered. If he could fight Tabitha, if he could face a dragon without fear, then with her meager magical skills... what could she do to force his compliance?

Louise was prideful, but not stupid. It was dangerous to encourage a commoner defying or even fighting on even terms against a mage. "Arrgh, why does this have to be so confusing?" she complained to thin air as she tugged at her hair. The mere fact that he could fight a mage, with those strange barriers of his... which had to be magic of some sort, no matter how much he denied it... proved that Louise had no mere commoner under her command. But if he was no mere commoner, then _why was he staying?_ Why... anything?

"Louise-sama!"

The girl looked up to see her familiar approach, still wearing an apron. Louise grit her teeth. Too damn domesticated. Louise leaned against a wall and put her hands over her heart. Dammit. He was getting along well with everyone... she'd begged fate for a strong familiar, the strongest there could be, but only now did she come to realize that the strongest familiar would have no need of her at all. "I could make him stop..." she mused with grit teeth. "A noble's familiar, it should only care for its master. What's with taking jobs? That's disrespectful." She could forbid him from even talking to other nobles, specially Kirche and Tabitha.

Would that make him angry? Or just disappointed? She couldn't even begin to consider which she considered more frightening.

A familiar is supposed to reflect its master, right? So what did it mean if she couldn't even trust her own familiar to be loyal? Didn't that mean she couldn't be loyal too? In the world of nobility, where ties of duty, honor, oaths, and marriage, disloyalty was the root of evil.

She gave him a punch in the arm when he got close enough. "What's up with this? You're making me wait for you to finish your work? Just who is escorting who to lunch here? You need to learn your place."

Shinji actually smiled at her, as if her very anger was amusing. "Sorry. We're trying some new recipes today."

Louise scowled. "It's not like that shawarma thing again, is it? You tried to feed me spit-roasted beef and cheese and raw onions, and uggh. Have you no sense of delicacy? Didn't you even begin to consider what that would do a lady's breath?"

"No, don't worry. It's mostly seafood this time. The effect is... subtler." That was a few days ago, and he'd gotten a bit overconfident at how good he'd managed to make sushi with rice substitutes. He wouldn't buy his way into her good graces with snack food. _'At least Siesta-san liked it. Strong flavors are peasant fare.'_ he said to himself. Rubbing at his arm, he added "You could have just gone on ahead anyway, master. There was no need to wait for me."

Louise stared at his arm and frowned. Did that really hurt? She didn't understand it at all. Look at the face! All but shining with puppy-like eagerness, except that the light never reached his eyes. He was pretending to be far less than what he was, and Louise wanted to know just how deep did his deceptions go. "I'm not letting you out of my sight. No more trouble from you!" Louise put her hands on her head and groaned. "Aah! Stop damaging the castle! I don't want to have to pay for it, if next time there are witnesses!" She looked up and looked determined. "There won't be a next time, understand? If you're this happy playing at being a cook, then there's no need for fighting."

"H-hai. But... it wasn't my fault? I was challenged after all."

"No, you could have refused. As your master, I should have discretion about that. It's partly for your protection, understand, that was totally unnecessary!" In her own small way, Louise was trying to convey that their relationship was two-way. There were some benefits to being her familiar. "And worse than that, you didn't even wait or call for me so I could see you going off at full power!"

Shinji laughed sheepishly. "Um. There was no time? I didn't want to bother your sleep."

"Pfft. I need to know what you're really capable of. That 'soul magic' of yours... can it really protect me? I want to know."

"Louise-sama, you're sending me a lot of mixed signals here..."

"Well, no more than what you're doing! Gah! Why can't you just spit out what you want to say?"

Shinji blinked. There was nothing he wanted to say. It was best if he could go from day to day without any thought at all. To Louise, who had ever been brutally honest (if sometimes pompous and delusional), silence was as good as keeping secrets.

They were already walking towards the dining hall. Louise suddenly stopped and took a step back. Shinji was only slightly taller than her, and thus chose not to carry Derflinger in his daily chores. The scabbard would just inhibit movement as he rushed about the kitchen. On the face of it, only magic or something similarly arcane could explain someone like him being able to fight even Tabitha to a draw.

Food, lodging, clothing. He didn't really need her for any of that. Magic was not needed for any of that. Good honest labor could suffice. _'Founder, why must this be so confusing?' _Looking at his back, she wondered how long before he'd see just how short was her reach and just... walk away. Shinji turned around.

"Are you a pacifist?" she asked abruptly.

"Huh?"

"Well I heard my father say once that those who experienced too much war can either come to embrace at their own true nature, or come to hate it like nothing else. You said you don't like fighting...?"

"Well, no, but that doesn't mean I'm going to just stand there while someone tries to impale me with an ice spike." Mostly because he didn't want to damage the clothes Louise bought, and while it may have ended up tipping the battle Shinji didn't feel like fighting naked. Agh. He figured out that he could have won plenty of his fights if he did fight naked.

Louise scowled and tapped her foot as he trailed off. Much as she hated to consider it, she was starting to feel some sympathy for Kirche. She wondered if it was like this with Tabitha. Whole self-contained conversations seemed to pass behind blank eyes. Too much alike. And now the thought of them... _conspiring together_... was stuck in her head and it was too damn disturbing.

"You're fine with that? You almost died fighting against Guiche, and at least he was trying to beat you up and not poke holes in your body. Now Tabitha? You forgive too easily." It was like holding a piece of a jigsaw puzzle, but the problem was that both sides were painted. "Was she aiming to wound or something? What makes her so special, huh? Why does she get to see you at full power?"

"Umm. How do I put this? While she couldn't reduce her attacks to non-lethal levels without them being utterly useless for that battle, it wasn't like she really -intended- any lasting harm. Besides that, Louise-sama, I was never at full power."

Louise tilted her head back. "Oh really?" she asked mockingly.

Shinji sighed. "Yes really."

"No way."

While Kensuke cackled away inside, Shinji looked up and groped for a reply. "How do I say...? Ah. A knight isn't much without a horse, my master. A swordsman without a sword. With Derflinger-san I was able to stand up to Tabitha-san, but... I'm not really a fighter. I'm a pilot."

"I thought you said you were a monster hunter?" Louise blinked, remembering something. "A pilot is someone who controls a machine, like a ship or something. Those beasts you said... you should be a rider."

Shinji shook his head. "A Rider is an ally of justice. I'm nowhere near worthy."

"Stop talking nonsense." Louise huffed. Familiars hinted at the personality and power of their summoners. When people look at her familiar, they would be seeing a distorted mirror of herself. They would be assuming things based on his behavior. It would be beyond pathetic if her familiar turned out to be more successful at life than his own master.

Somewhat hypocritically, Louise couldn't even begin to put her fears into coherent forms inside her head. Fear condensed into the forms of her mother and eldest sister and they never tolerated whining. Only two more years of freedom before her life was, again, planned out and decided for her. It was starting to piss her off how he accomplished things so easily and with a minimum of angst. She shouldn't have to learn how to get it together from her own servant.

Fate, as was well known, was a bitch.

-o-

It just so happened that a certain Miss Longueville was walking down the other end of the corridor. She too was lost in thought. "Throwing me off just because he has 'something to arrange'. Who does he think he is?" she murmured angrily to herself. She was more relieved than anything that she wouldn't have to endure dinner with Count Mott, but it was the way he'd so dismissed her when it came to it. Not even an apology, just a _'I'm sure you understand how it is.' _with a self-satisfied smirk. As if it was her great loss.

She growled. Maybe Count Mott should have a visit from Fouquet the Thief one of these days. She was a woman, more than some globs of flesh to ogle and fondle. No. She tool a deep breath to focus. The noble had come straight from the castle with a warning about Fouquet. How damaging would it be to the Academy's reputation if after receiving the warning, a precious object gets stolen anyway? At least, she had to remember, she didn't have to deal with Count Mott every single day!

Osmond, that lecherous old man. This was revenge, pure and simple. Ms. Longueville exhaled fitfully. There was still the problem of getting into the vault, though. Crashing through with a golem would be too conspicuous. Depending on how big the 'Staff of Destruction' was, she'd have difficulty on stashing it away while making sure she wasn't exposed as the thief.

Hmm. Would it really be so bad? Revealing herself as the thief would shame the Academy even more. She was getting sick of uppity brats. She could move further east into Germania or maybe down into Gallia. She didn't have any ties to Tristania anyway. Really, this nation... it was so -small-. If she was going to leave it anyway, why not make sure her name was remembered forever?

But, she remembered with a groan, that required first that she find a way into the vault. Stealing Osmond's keys was a possibility, but first she'd have to find out where he kept them. Ransacking the old man's room would take too much time, and he probably had some sort of warning spell in there anyway. More likely was that he kept the keys with him and like hell was she going willingly near his body. That left only having to subdue Osmond the (_), and old as he may be the headmaster was still one of the few Square-class mages.

That left, what? Poison maybe? "Still far too neat." she said to herself. That wasn't Fouquet's style. It wasn't like she wanted to kill the old man, just tweak his 'I know better' nose in. "I could break through it with brute force... I just need a big enough golem." Such a creature would have to be designed specifically to throw a few massive punches, trying to make it mobile would drain her magical reserves dry. The problem was finding time and seclusion to set it up.

She heard loud complaining from ahead and looked up to see a boy with bland sort of face dressed all in black being berated by a distinctively short and pink-haired noble. Ah. These two were to blame for more monitored night-time activities under Tristain Academy. She remembered too feeling bricks reinforced by a Square-class mage crumbling under her hands. Hmm. There may be potential here.

"Hey, you there!" she called out and strode forth in an officious manner. "You, girl, are you the Louise de la Valliere? The one they call the Zero?"

"No! I mean... yes. I am Louise Francoise de la Vallière." Louise shrank back, then challengingly stood straighter. "And who are you?"

The green-haired woman smiled thinly. "Show some respect to the faculty, little girl. You may call me Miss Longueville. I'm Sir Osmond's secretary... and I was going to call for you anyway to verify some facts, but it's just as well meeting you here."

Louise eep'ed and her nervousness returned. "A-about what?"

Beside her, there was nary a flicker in Shinji's deadpan expression. On closer inspection he did look somewhat exotic, specially with his slightly slanting eyes and mask-like expression. There was something cold and inhuman in how so still and so patiently he waited for all of it to be over with. "Hmm. So would you be the familiar she presumably summoned?"

"T-there's nothing presumable about it! He's my familiar! There were witnesses!"

Miss Longueville let a smirk pass across her face. "Really now? That's good confirmation. So you would be directly responsible for any damage he does, then. Or should I say... your parents. Repairing the courtyard, the walls, and even the main tower... it was so expensive. Not to mention completely against school regulations."

_'Oh Founder I'm so going to be expelled!'_ was writ clear on Louise's face. "No, wait, it's not my fault! I mean... it's not his fault! It was mage battle, and you can see that my familiar hasn't been injured any. He's not strong enough to fight a mage and cause that much damage. Do you have any proof that he's responsible at all? It was someone who can use Water magic!" She was speaking so quickly it was nearly incoherent babbling.

"I've certainly never heard of Water magic forming red honeycomb shields out of the air. Or for it to allow someone grabbing even a small dragon by the tail and throwing it into a wall."

Louise turned aside suddenly. "You did WHAT?" She poked him again at the side, eliciting another _'Ow!'_. "Just how strong are you?"

"Oh, you didn't know? That's interesting." The secretary smiled down at Shinji. "If you weren't a familiar, you'd have committed a crime, you know. Even if it was for self-defense, you still have to pay back the Academy somehow."

Shinji didn't even bother to defend himself. "So... you were watching? That was well past midnight." Implied was the question of why she was awake at that, was watching teenagers fighting, and didn't intervene to stop it.

"It's not for you to speculate on a woman's habits." Miss Longueville replied impishly. "So... what's your name, mister familiar? She is allowing you to keep your own name, right? Some nobles tend to confuse a familiar for a pet."

"Hey!"

Shinji bowed. "My name is Ikari Shinji, Longueville-san. Ikari being my family name."

"I see." The secretary crossed her arms and asked the obvious question. "Are you actually human, mister Ikari?"

"Pardon?"

"Obviously, what you do isn't possible for any normal human. Now, either you're using some form of magic we haven't encountered before, or you're actually some sort of magical creature. Where are you from?"

Shinj winced. "It's... hard to explain."

"He's from beyond Rub' al Khali!" Louise put in suddenly. At double inquisitive looks, she added "Well, you said you're from the East, right? We just don't know how far east of Rub' al Khali it is."

"That's... reasonably accurate, Louise-sama. Thank you." Of course, totally wrong, as accuracy and precision were similar but not directly interchangeable. Turning to Miss Longueville, "What she said."

She didn't look quite so convinced. Those were lands the elves governed. She shrugged. It didn't matter to her anyway. "Can everyone do what you can where you're from?"

"Um... no. The best I know, there were five of us. I just outli... I have more practice now. If they were here, then they should be able to do something similar." In as much the same way a baseball was similar to a wrecking ball, being both spheres, but once again it was a reasonably accurate statement.

"So, what ARE you?" the secretary pressed on. She'd been eavesdropping and learned a bit about the Gandalfr legend. Considering other legends "Maybe you're half-elf or something like that?"

Shinji shrugged. "I'm not quite sure, but my people have never encountered any of these... elves. I'm pretty sure about that, there's nothing but human stock in my ancestry." He nodded to himself. "My direct genealogy was something of a public record."

"I see. Well, let's just leave that for now. So you know how to fight... you're pretty good with swords, mister Ikari. Tell me honestly, what other weapons do you know?"

Louise brightened and agressively shoved her face near his. "That's right! Don't lie! I'm making it an order!"

"Um... it's not much, but..." He winced and clutched at his left hand. He looked lost and desperate. "Please don't..."

"Are you that addicted to keeping secrets? It can't be good for you." Louise kept her expression hard and expectant.

Louise was, Miss Longueville considered then, pretty much typical of the behaviour of nobility. So much self-importance, so all-assuming, the only difference was that the pink-haired girl couldn't back up her boasts with power and violence. Now she was bullying someone who for weird reasons couldn't really defend against her. The thief-in-hiding would normally found it reprehensible, were it not so amusing a spectacle. The boy looked so uncomfortable, so helpless, and Miss Longueville was left wondering just how long before he snaps and goes off on a rage-fueled rampage. She reminded him of so many introverted young men who either petered out into little invisible lives of mediocrity or become total assholes consumed with the thirst for power and proving others wrong about their assumptions.

Shinji looked to the left. Then to right. Then up. He shivered in despair and helplessly showed his palms. "I guess... honestly... all of them?"

Louise blinked. That wasn't what she was expecting. "What?"

"Please don't make me give examples, Louise-sama." If it was ever used, made, or even imagined by a human being, he could pull out the necessary memories to fake proficiency at it. Being practically unkillable had its perks.

"Give me examples!" Louise extorted, as expected.

"Umm. Kris. Gladius. Khopesh." Just for the hell of it, '_Executor-class Super Star Destroyer...?'_

"Wait, what's that last part?"

"...did I say that out loud?' _'Dammit, Aida!' _Shinji looked pleadingly up to Miss Longueville. _'Just kill me now.'_ he begged silently. The woman just smirked at him, obviously entertained.

"Too complicated to explain, master. It's a ship of sorts. It doesn't really destroy stars..."

Louise frowned. "That's your excuse for everything. I'm not stupid, you know. And... that's a stupid name."

Miss Longueville may have muttered '_You may be attention deficient_' under her breath. Shinji just shrugged. "Sorry."

"Interesting. That's quite interesting. We should really continue this conversation someday." Miss Longueville stepped aside to allow the two teens to pass. "Well, wouldn't you say you owe me a favor, at least, for not saying anything? As a faculty member, I do have _some _weight to my observations."

"You're blackmailing me?" Louise screeched indignantly.

"Oh, no. I won't ask for money or anything." She looked over Shinji appraisingly, and smiled even wider as that seemed to just make Louise angrier. "There are certain curiosities of academic nature I want to confirm. Your familiar's... talents... may come in handy for my research." She bowed only very slightly and turned away. "Good day, children."

And as she left, she couldn't help but to grin as she heard "What was that just now? You were totally trying to impress her, weren't you? You're putting the moves on a teacher now? Have you no shaame?"

Technically, she wasn't a teacher, but she supposed Louise wouldn't really know if she teached any classes or not. Her grin twitched as she next heard "She's, like, that much older than you! Have you got no taste?"

_'That brat!' _Fouquet hissed. _'This won't be as difficult to pull off as I first thought then.'_

-o-

It was midafternoon when Siesta barged into the kitchen. Since Tristain Academy trained young nobles, at their core still just hormonal and stupid teenagers, it was just a reasonable precaution that the cellar and the wine stocks to have strong locks both magical and mundane. If not from outside the castle, then the only other recourse was to take the wines used for cooking. Ignoring good-natured questions about why she'd missed out on lunch, she began opening cabinets one after the other.

"What are you doing?" asked Marteau.

"Ah!" Just in time for Siesta to find what she was looking for. She frowned as she examined the row of bottles. "Don't you have anything harder?"

"Right in middle of the afternoon? Did one of the teachers ask this? If it's Old Osmond, tell him it doesn't matter if he's the headmaster. It's not good for him."

Siesta pulled out a bottle of sherry and looked around. Shrugging, she popped the cork and took a swig straight from the bottle.

"Hey!" The maid growled and tried to keep the bottle, but her grip strength couldn't match the chef's burly arms. "Are you trying to kill yourself?" Marteau shouted coarsely. He looked at the bottle. "You're not going to do it with sherry anyway, unless you're trying drown your face."

"What happened?" one of the apprentices asked. "Is it Ikari? Did do something to you?"

"No! It's not him! Do anything to him and I'll break your face!" Siesta growled it between sniffles. "It's not him. Nothing's happened. Not yet, but... I hate all nobles!" she wailed.

"There, there." Marteau patted her shoulder. "Settle down, Siesta, and tell us all about it. Maybe we can help?"

"Give me back my liquor."

"It's -my- liquor, and no." Nevertheless, the chef reached for a glass and poured down a bracing amount. He passed that over to Siesta while handing the bottle over to one of the cooking boys. The maid, trying to control herself, took small sips until the warmth running down her throat calmed down the furious beating of her heart. "So, it's a noble? Is it one of the students?"

Siesta gave a mocking little laugh. If it was just a horny little student, she could deal with it herself. "No. It's a noble with his own estate. A Count, Count Mott, he said. He wants me to become his mistress."

The men didn't know how to react to that, until one of them said "Uh... congratulations?"

"You. You're a moron." Marteau said to that apprentice. Then turning back to Siesta "But that's not such a bad life, is it?"

"I know! But... would it really make me happier? I'm not a whore, no matter what my father says!" she snarled. "I didn't even do anything! He was just there!"

Marteau's look softened. "Then why don't you just refuse?"

"I can't... there's no way out of it. He's already done talking with the headmaster to buy out my service, and... it wouldn't be so hard to ask my father. He'd happily throw me over." Siesta could refuse a noble's 'request', technically, but if it comes down to that, it would be better to be taken out of the family rather than thrown out of it. Who'd marry a woman with no dowry? Even a working woman had to have her own pride, but not so much as to choke to death in it.

"Ah, that's tough. Hmm. I have been here for a while, and while Old Osmond doesn't do much out of the Castle anymore he can at least block your contract if I ask. I suppose that won't do anything for Count Mott going behind the old man's back to go to your father for your hand, but..." Marteau grinned a bit. "You'd like to stay in this castle? Are you waiting for someone?"

"No! Don't you dare tell him! He's already suffered so much... I can't... I can't impose on him like this. What am I anyway? It's not like he's got any obligation to help me."

"I would like to think our Wolf would be more helpful than that."

"He would? Why? Look at you!" She stared at each of the faces there. "At least you're freemen. Can you help me? How?" Siesta shook her head. Obviously not. None of them had the sort of wealth or power, even if they pooled their savings, to act against a Count. "We're just commoners. He's lower than even that, if we ask the law. The only thing he can do is fight. If he fights a mage again, he could die! Don't any of you dare to endanger him! He... he... doesn't even like violence... I don't want to cause him any more pain."

One of the apprentices, a sandy-haired young man, approached Siesta, put both hands on her shoulders and face her squarely. "Siesta. Don't go. If you can't stay here, run away with me." His name was Ourson, she remembered.

Siesta smiled. "That's sweet. Thank you, but I can't let you throw away your own life too." Service in the Academy was a pretty cushy job, second only to the palace kitchens itself. Mister Marteau had a cheerful rivalry with Chef Millard over there, and it was expected that those trained in the Academy's kitchen eventually 'graduates' to service at the palace.

"You're actually considering it, aren't you? Like Mister Marteau said... it's not such a bad life, I understand." There was a flicker of hurt on his face, and was that faint disgust?

Siesta pushed him away. "You're judging me? You... you... male! You all have it so easy! What am I supposed to do? It's not my fault. I can't go back, and if I run... that perverted jerk or a noble just gets his money back. Why am I the only one that gets hurt here? What did I do deserve this?" The maid grabbed her drink and downed it. She snorted a strong "Hah!" at them. That didn't help. She seemed like a wounded lioness, which gave some hint to her appeal. "This is so unfair."

"What do you want? What are you going to do?" asked Marteau.

"I... don't know. But if I don't go, my father will know. And I'd rather it be on my terms than his. At least... if that damn noble's buying out my bond of service, at least that money goes to me instead of my father."

"So it's just about money after all?" one of the apprentices muttered. Some of them looked doubtful, that Siesta didn't really do anything to get this. It was actually a dream of many village girls. In that case, Siesta should really be praised if not for her cunning, then at least her success.

"Are we nobles, to put so much stock in wand-waving and blood rights?" Marteau scolded loudly. "We've got to be practical these days. We've got to do what we can to protect ourselves." Turning back to Siesta. "I'm sorry it's still not good enough. _Maudite noblesse!_" he said, throwing his hands into the air. "Damn the nobles! Give here the bottle again, I feel like getting drunk too."

"Should we spit on the dinner?" one of his apprentices asked.

"No, not even for them would I disrespect cuisine. We are chefs first, servants second."

"When do you have to... ah... go?" Siesta was asked.

"At least by tomorrow." was her weak reply. "Count Mott... he's from the palace. He brought me to meet the headmaster himself, and even Old Osmond was very polite. Mister Marteau, I don't think even the old man can help me now. The Count could make so much trouble for anyone who tries to get in his way." She growled. "Damn the nobles!"

"Damn right." Marteau replied evenly. He poured himself a drink. He'd lost his wife the same way.

-o-

Later that night, not even Shinji could ignore the somber mood in the kitchen. He looked around. "Siesta-san isn't here yet?"

"No, our Wolf, and she won't be for a while." Marteau replied unwillingly. "Why don't you forget about her for a while and let me reward you with a hug for how well we did earlier!"

"Um, no thanks. Is she sick or something?"

"Sure, let's go with that. She has some feminine problems to take care of."

Shinji replied with a bland look that all but screamed out _'bullshit!'_. But if they wanted to play at keeping secrets, meh. It was not like he really cared. Siesta had her own life to live, it wasn't his place to poke his nose into her affairs. That would be rude. He allowed her to enter his comfort zone, but as an outgoing person surely she deserved... no, needed... to spend time with others more engaging and social.

"Tell him!" Ourson hissed. "It's partly his fault anyway that Siesta's doing it."

"How is it his fault?" Martreu defensively put his arm around the boy. "She's protecting him from the worst of it. That's her choice to make." He whispered to Shinji's ear. "Seriously, my boy, it's some bloody feminine problem. You don't want to go there."

"Her 'time of the month' doesn't start until the twenty-sixth." Shinji replied.

Marteau blinked. "How would you... oh, wait, you're kidding. Nice one, trying to turn my joke back on me, eh?" He tousled the boy's hair. "Don't worry about it."

Shinji just shrugged. He just Knew, somehow. Humanity was composed equally of the male and female of the species. He was embarrassed in social situations, but he couldn't be digusted with just that beautiful reminder of how mothers bring life and light into the world. He looked around. They were obviously lying about something bigger than that. "If you say so..." he said softly, and put it completely out of his mind.

Something still tickled at the back of his consciousness. It was annoying. And so, when he was done helping, rather than put away the knife and cutting board he flipped his hold to a reverse grip and stabbed straight down. The loud 'thunk!' echoed in the room.

Then Shinji walked over to the door, apparently unaware at what he'd just done. "Thanks for letting me work here today." he said with a bow. "I'm going now before Louise-sama gets impatient with waiting." There was still homework to be done. The teachers had considered it cheating if Shinji were to take down notes for her in class, but no such restriction applied in homework. _'Should that be dormwork?'_ he mused.

After he left, the kitchen crew crowded around the knife stuck down to the hilt. Not even Marteau's strength could budge the blade. "This is sunk straight into the stone! How did he do that?" one of the amazed apprentices exclaimed. Then, in a softer more suspicious tone "Is it magic?"

"What, is it something like, only the one true chef can pull it out?" another commented with a scoff.

Chef Marteau stared down at the knife and hmm'ed as he rubbed at his chin. Even if by pure strength alone, it should have ruined the blade. And if it was magic, then what sort of person can use magic without a wand? The boy had admitted he was from somewhere in the East. _'Such a polite young man. Makes me forget he might not even be human. Siesta's just refusing to remember that.'_

-o-

It was night, and Kirche was on the prowl. Being able to fight Tabitha to a draw only served to further inflame Kirche's desire. "Are you _really really_ sure you don't intend to be my rival?" she asked again.

Tabitha shot her a look that may have implied _'Are you __**really really**__ sure you want _my foot_ in _your face_?' _before turning back to her book.

Kirche knocked for politeness' sake and announced "Louise, we're coming in!"

"No! Stay out forever!" was the screamed retort from the inside. Kirche cheerfully ignored it and pushed through anyway. Inside she saw seated, working on the desk while Louise paced around behind her back.

Tristania basically spoke and wrote French, appropriately the _lingua franca_ of Halkeginia, and he'd already pulled out the appropriate memories to both read and write in that language. It was just secretarial work, taking down dictation to spare his master hand cramps.

Kirche tsk'ed. "That's just lazy, Valliere. It's bad enough you've got dear Shinji doing manual labor, now you've got him doing your thinking for you."

"You don't get to talk that way about me, von Zerbst! My written grades are still much better than yours! I'm going to do this all by myself later, this is just the first draft." She huffed. "It's not cheating. What would he know of magical theory anyway?"

"Your own schoolwork is still your own business, Louise. You've got no right pawning it off to anyone else."

Louise laughed mockingly. "You don't get to say that either. You hypocrite. How many boys do you have trying to imitate your handwriting?"

Rather than deny it, Kirche laughed as well, showing off her heaving bosom. "Why should I refuse such kind offers? At least it's being done out of goodwill. Is this really all right with you, dear Shinji?"

"I don't mind." If she got too out of practice, it would do bad things to her penmanship. Hmm. Still, it was one benefit to her familiar that she could throw in the face of her classmates who summoned illiterate animals. His feelings could be summed up as: Meh. It's a job. A good way as any to let pass boring peaceful nights. "Speaking of magical theory... there's something that was bothering me lately. If you don't mind me asking, Tabitha-san?"

Tabitha had brought a small book and was sitting knees-up on Louise's bed. She glanced up and nodded.

"Sure, go ahead." said Louise.

"It's about magical combat and the spells you use."

"Ha-ha! Better let me answer this, then!" Kirche pushed her aside. Louise grabbed at thin air, as Kirche's arm length kept her at bay. "What do you want to know?"

"Actually, this concerns you anyway, Kirche-san." She leaned forward eagerly and Shinji tried not to flinch. "The spells you say, they're runic combinations aren't they? I understand that each individual runic word contains its own meaning, which can be altered by others around them. But it was a language once. I've noticed that a lot of your festivals are named in Old Norse." Also, for some reason it's the reverse of the Nordic arrangement he was familiar with. Here it was Surtur that was venerated, not Wotan. "Isn't Germanica derived from that?"

Kirche beamed. "You recognized that? I'm impressed. Truly, all the best things come from-"

"Oh no you don't! Don't you fill his head with your mistruths!" Louise pointed at Shinji, her finger in front of his nose. "The Germanians of today are nothing more than barbarians who came in after the fall of the Midheimian Alliance. They'd have us all believe that they're heirs to the old knowledge, when the truth is that they're nothing more than carrion feeders living off the scraps of glory that was never theirs to begin with! The knowlede of magic is like this because it was moved west, here, to Tristania."

"Now who's being mistruthful, Louise? Tristania's a young country, formed out of a concession between Gaula and Gotha. You can't even pretend to have anything to do with saving the old magic, that's all been the Second Romalian Empire!"

"Tristania is the homeland of Saint Tristain!"

"And back then, this entire land was Hostgossa, the eastern half of GARMAGARD!"

Tabitha touched her staff and blew away the two bickering young women before they could start strangling each other. They were thrown to opposite ends of the room, landing safely but shaken. She gave Shinji a look that implied _'I blame you for this.'_

Shinji sighed. Right. Halkeginia was very nearly Europe, with all the same flavor and long history of intercine conflict. He should have expected this. "Ahem. I was just wondering, it's sort of a complicated process. I could interrupt Tabitha-san's attacks, and she'd have to start from the beginning. Why can't spells be in _Francais _so all you have to do is to say _'aci'_ to call something to you?"

"That's not for a commoner to know." Louise said icily. "But I suppose you can be forgiven this, because you're my familiar. We don't have to say anything, that's so basic!"

"No, Louise, he's right in a way. No offense, Shinji dear, but you're also mistaken. It's a common assumption, for those who aren't mages, so don't feel bad. There are spells in other languages, but they too have to to be built specifically to combine like that. Conversational, figurative speech? Horrible!" Kirche held up her wand. ""This is something commoners can't understand, I'm sorry to say. Magic isn't just something for a mage to _do_. Magic is... like sound, focused by an instrument. It comes from inside us. We make music in a way that few else can even perceive." She glanced aside to Louise and smirked. "And some people can only make noise."

"Same." Tabitha said without looking up from her book.

"I'm sure the ancients had their own ways of speaking, and down at Romalia they use some old dialect of theirs instead, but it's all the same words. The sounds are different, but it's still all the same." Kirche grinned. "It's not the words that matter. It's the _intent_. It's what's behind the words. They have to be exactly what we want. They have to _fit_. Magic recognizes itself."

_'It -is- a language!'_ Kensuke crowned triumphantly. _'Sohryu, can you hear me down there? We were right. It's a programming language! The wand is the compiler!'_

There was a faint echo, that sounded something like _'It's not helping!'_ The Gandalfr runes were extraordinarily resistant to tampering. It was just energy. _Green_ energy, a flowing river of it. They could thin it out, but that just increased the pressure.

"I see. Thank you." Shinji bowed.

"Of course, I shouldn't need to ask you not to speak of this to commoners, right?" Kirche asked. "It's not really forbidden as much as it would be... I don't know, discouraging. It's like implying they're crippled somehow. It would hurt their feelings."

"Aren't you afraid of hurting my feelings?"

Kirche all but purred. "My dearest, magic is not the only power there is."

But all in all it had not been a productive evening, because Kirche and Louise in the same room could not be anything but disruptive to peace and productivity. Not even Tabitha could tune them out, and Shinji was getting tired of being used as a goalpost for their sniping. In the end Louise threw everyone out of the room so she could sulk in peace. Shinji was confined to a corner of the room, facing the wall as if he was child being punished.

In her room Siesta cried herself to sleep.

-o-

And then it was morning.

Since he'd done the laundry yesterday Shinji had nothing particular to occupy his attention. He supposed even he could grow tired of brooding. Here, in this living world, wallowing in his pain seemed too self-serving. He took a deep breath. The air was cool, the sun was still low in the sky, all in all it was a pretty nice day. Even he felt it would be a shame to waste it indoors.

It had only been so long since he was forced into this world. Shinji was the sort not to consider friendship as can be decided within just a few days, or even weeks. It took months to earn his trust. It was part of why Kaworu managing to get under his skin in just a few days cut so deeply, exposing a hollowness inside already on the verge of cracking. For the moment, while Tabitha was disturbing it was also that which made her presence so familiar and tolerable. It didn't hurt that she would be very low-maintenance as far as human contact would go. He squinted up at the sun, as if challenging it to see which could wink first. He looked away first, he couldn't afford to wait the billions of years to win the game.

He smiled a bit. Siesta was the closest he could consider a friend. Helping her out in would accomplish a good deed, salve his boredom, and of course further companionship. Ironically, while he could relax best in her presence, Shinji had to remind himself to always be on guard and be 'normal'... it was her esteem he couldn't afford to alienate.

Unfortunately, she was nowhere to be found at the usual haunts. The other maids wouldn't tell him where she was. They were rather standoffish, a few openly wishing they were going where she was instead. Some gave him looks of pity, others told him it was none of his business. He was left thinking he had offended them somehow. Shinji decided not to press for answers.

Not even Shinji could ignore that the thick, secretive mood from last night was even heavier now. The tension started as soon as he entered the room. He racked his brain for what he'd done to deserve this, but came up empty. He'd been careful ever since the duel with Tabitha. He gave a shrug. Whether or not it involved him, he'd live with it just fine.

He saw the large knife stuck deep into a cutting board. Woops. It wasn't that impressive, compared to how they've already seem him accidentally cut through a cow's thigh bones without ruining the edge, boy looked up to see the others avoiding his eyes, but it was not in fear or resentment. Their body language screamed out guilt. He searched his feelings. No, he still didn't give a damn. He easily pulled out the knife. "Sorry." he said chagrined. "Um... I'll pay for a new board?"

"No, it's fine." Marteau replied. "We still need more of the basics." The chef swept an arm towards the pile of garlic, onions, carrots, radishes and potatoes. All had to be peeled and cut.

Such scrany arms should not be able to stab a knife straight into stone. The blade, if not ruined, should be dull. And yet, there was the boy cutting onions with quick precise ease. Even Marteau shivered. There was something unnatural going on with that boy. Back when he first stood up to the noble, it was a refreshing change. Now, if it wasn't for just how damn efficient he was as a worker, even the chef had to feel more at ease if he wasn't at the kitchen. Siesta's basking presence must have muted it, made it seem more admirable rather than unearned power similar to how the nobles took advantage of their magic.

"Just how strong are you?" Marteau had to ask.

"I'm... not really sure." Shinji had to reply, while not looking up from his task. "I'm pretty sure I am human, though."

"No one said you weren't." Though it was interesting how he had to constantly try and reassure others about that. Marteau tasted the soup stock and began to chop up ginger. "It's impressive that you have such control over it like that, at your age."

The boy didn't react.

Again one of the apprentices hissed "For Founder's sake...!" He was shushed back into grumbling silence.

Shinji looked up. "If Siesta-san really is sick, I do know some natural remedies. It's not alchemy, but it should help." From a certain point of view, it hasn't been that long since Pills were made of . He didn't know how far along medical science was in this world which had magic to take its place, but if such healing magic was under the control of nobles, then apothecaries should still exist to dispense remedies. After all, even if it just that easy to solve illnesses with a wave of a wand, mages couldn't be everywhere. The defining characteristic of nobility was that they weren't -common-. "It could even taste good."

Marteau sighed. He clenched his fist and looked at his thick and hairy arm. For all that he easily proclaimed hatred of nobles, here he was employed and expert at pleasing them. He looked at each of his apprentices and helpers in turn. Just as Siesta had recognized, they couldn't risk their own futures for what was in the end one of the less unpleasant fates for a commoner. At least, it was far less unpleasant than what would happen if any of them angered a noble.

The boy was less than a commoner. The boy had to trade to support himself, no freedom to go as would wish. What elevated and protected him above any peasant was being directly linked to a noble. Granted, a young noble, but just because of that Count Mott couldn't be too severe in his punishment, surely? It should be beneath his dignity to argue with a child. But the word and welfare of a child would be stronger to her parents... if she can't do anything about it, maybe they can. Low as the chances may be, it was still better than for anyone else to try.

Marteau slumped his shoulders. "I guess there's no point to it. Siesta... is no longer in this castle." He pointed warning. "She wasn't fired, she's not being punished. But it wasn't because she wanted to, understand? "

"Not really?"

"She didn't want to leave. She didn't say goodbye because she couldn't lie to your face, that girl."

One of the apprentices muttered "Sure, she's angry about it now... but in a few months, will she even remember us? With her own servants to boss around, yeah it's such a tragedy. You're all acting as if this sort of thing hasn't happened before. At least she got out-"

Ourson grabbed him. "You take that back! This isn't getting out, she's just being dragged down even more! "

"Enough!" Marteau slammed his palms onto the table. Calmly he looked at Shinji in the face. "It's a complicated situation. Here's how it is.."

And then he explained. Shinji listened blankly.

There was a feeling like the air was getting heavier, like that of a mass of water building up as it approaches the shore, but rather than crashing down into the beach it rolled softly into the sands. There was like the ticking of a clock and possibilities being weighed. The feeling went away and Shinji just turned back to peeling carrots.

"Well?" he was asked. "Won't you even say something?"

Shinji looked tired. He put down the knife, his hands were shaking. "What do you want me to say?"

"I'd expected better of you, our Wolf." Marteau had to say sadly. "If you're going to be like that, I'd ask that you not bother coming back to this kitchen."

"I'd expected you to at least be brave enough to even say what you want me to do." Shinji looked up. He had dark rings under his eyes, as if he hadn't had a good night's sleep. "If it was... impractical... to help her, then if voicing it is too scary then why should a wolf walk around mere dogs."

"How dare y-"

Marteau raised his hand, and though the apprentices still carried angry glares at least they held back their tongues. The burly chef crossed his arms and said "Fair enough. I want you to get Siesta out of this mess. We can't really offer any reward, you've got to do this out of the goodness of your heart."

Shinji sighed. He clenched his fists open and shut. "Good has nothing to do with this." He grimaced, as if trying to keep himself from crying. "But for Siesta-san, I'll do it."

"Our thanks." Marteau grinned. "Let me express it in the form of a grateful hug! You're a nice guy after all!"

"Aha... no, that's not necessary. I should get going. Better get after her before something..." and a cloud passed over sun the for a moment. "unpleasant happens."

-o-

Shinji made sure he was alone in the corridor and began banging his head against the wall. He stopped as soon as he realized he was causing cracks. He'd promised to stop damaging the castle after all. "I'm not a good person." he muttered plaintively. "I'm not a nice guy."

"And yet you're still doing this." Shinji looked up, to see that somehow, midnight had fallen before noon. Out of the gloom walked in Gendo Ikari, his hand in his pockets, his orange glasses glinting from the torchlights. There were no other sounds than his steps upon the stone. "Foolish and immature of you. You've allowed yourself to be trapped by something as weak as the opinion of powerless servants."

The boy groaned. "Asuka's always right about me. I'm just that stupid..."

Gendo smirked slightly. "While I know you would need me again, I hadn't expected it this soon. You should be able to handle something this simple by yourself."

"Kensuke's being less than helpful." the boy muttered tiredly. "The only thing I can think of is to find this Count Mott person and beat his face in until he lets Siesta-san go..."

"How would you prevent the inevitable attempts at petty revenge?"

"I'd come back the next day and beat his face in again to emphasize my seriousness. She's got to be safe. He'll never be."

Gendo chuckled darkly. "And Aida's advice is even worse than that? I am both impressed and apalled."

Shinji crouched down and put his hands over his head. "I don't know what to do. I don't want to hurt anybody..." His heart felt like bursting with shame and fear. While objectively he realized that just because he was content, bordering on happiness, it didn't mean that he was sucking up good karma from others around him. Not everything could be his fault. Losing Siesta was more frightening than he'd expected. It hurt again. He could hate her for making him feel like this. People! These little lives... their little lights burned.

His breathing began to slow down.

Gendo remained impassive. He waited until the boy's heartbeat stopped utterly, and restarted again a few minutes later. Shinji stood up and cricked his neck from side to side. There was a faint, malicious smile on his face. The resemblance was now just a matter of height, accesorries, and facial hair. "I can't just go off running after her, can I? More importantly, I don't have to do -alone-." he mused, snapping his gloved fingers. "Now who can provide me with the information and leverage that I need?"

He supposed he should ask permission from Louise before doing anything, but it would be easier to get forgiveness when it's too late to take everything back. Tabitha might know, but she wouldn't be able to convey the information as he needed. Kirche, like Louise, would be looking for some way to benefit or just get jealous. Unreliable. But only a noble could really stand up to a noble, this was how the world worked.

Shinji blinked. It was daytime again.

"There's one more person." he decided, while looking at the back of his left hand.

-o-

A Gramont needed to be able to shake off humiliation like water off a duck's back. Rejection was nothing but a little dip in the road of love. So it was that eventually Guiche bounced back. His prestige was tarnished a bit, but there were those who thought he had learned not to stray. Montmorency stuck to his side, and in his own way he did appreciate her concern. He hadn't tried any obvious flirting for a while.

"Hey Guiche, having fun with the old ball and chain?" jeered one of other students. While nobles took on some effette characteristics to separate themselves from those who had to do horrid manual labor, Guiche's cloying ways disgusted most of his peers. Mostly because it worked with attracting feminine attention, he was never at a loss of how to interact with the ladies.

"Ignore them, my dear." Guiche said flippantly. "They're just jealous they don't have such a vision of loveliness on their arm."

Montmorency giggled appropriately. "Let's go to the fountain." She had her left hand twined around Guiche's, and in her right she carried a basket of sandwiches. Tristain Academy allowed for mid-morning and mid-afternoon recess. She had prepared the sandwiches herself, or as far as one could do so when provided with pre-fried eggs and precut bread and vegetables. It wouldn't do for a noble to go into the dirty kitchens, after all.

Still, she was no stranger to the feel of a knife in her hands, and the textures and aroma of ingredients. This budding potions mistress had staked her claim long ago. As much as young men would use songs and poems to woo their loves so should a young woman offer proof of her feminine skills. Guiche didn't look a smidgen embarrassed even as Montmorency began to feed him by hand.

Tristain Academy castle had two dormitory wings, two classroom wings, and one administrative wing. The first floor of the center tower was divided into two, the Alviss Dining Hall behind the wall and a reception area open to the main courtyard. While it was not precisely forbidden for students to hang out in the castle's central lounge, for reasons of practicality there were several smaller lounge areas near the base of the five towers of the castle. Shinji Ikari entered the one with the indoor fountain, a lounge with stone benches made to look like an indoor garden.

He looked around. It was a place where young nobles went to be seen, and since Louise loathed socializing he was safe. His gaze locked onto the young Gramont on the other end of the room and strode straight to it. "Guiche de Gramont." he whispered.

"Gyagh!" Guiche leapt up and turned around sharply. It was that which startled Montmorency. "Da-damnation! Make some sound when you walk! How did you sneak through a roomful of people?"

Shinji bland gaze implied it was easier than what most expected. Nobles tended not to notice anyone in servant clothes anyway. "Pardon, but may I have a moment of your time." He bowed briefly to Montmorency. "If you'll excuse us, milady?"

The blond scrunched her face. She still hadn't forgiven him or Louise for Guiche's humiliation. It didn't matter that it was Guiche who started it, he'd been -hurt-. Worse than that, they'd been insulted. Katie, that girl that helped cause this farce, had her standing improved amongst her peers. Montmorency had cornered the younger girl to warn her to stay away from Guiche, and Katie had actually dared laugh in her face.

"No. Go away." she looked up worriedly. "Make him go away, Guiche."

Shinji clenched his hands into fists. "Don't force me..." he said in the same dead tone of voice.

Montmorency gasped, and to his credit Guiche put himself in the way. He frowned warily and reached for his wand. He flinched as Shinji moved suddenly.

The boy dropped to one knee, bowing deep that his left knee touched his left shoulder. He laid his right fist flat on the floor, and tapped the marble lightly with his knuckles. There was a loud attention-attracting crack, and a web of shattered stone spread out. "Guiche, of the house of Gramont. I am Shinji, of the house of Ikari, and I beg your aid in a matter of honor."

Guiche blinked. "...what?" He abruptly realized that all eyes were upon him. "Crap." he said to himself. In the old days, winning a duel put the defeated under a great obligation to the winner. While it was of dubious worth between a mage and a commoner, and technically Guiche walked out of there far less injured than his opponents, he did conspicuously concede. Now someone was abasing himself asking for his help in full public view, refusing would have shown him as a graceless boor. Noblesse oblige.

"You don't have to do this, Guiche." Montmorency whispered. She took a deep breath. "If have to... Guiche! I'm saying don't go along with this silliness! If you respect me, you'll do this little thing I ask!"

Guiche winced. He saw the smirk and viciously pleased grins of the other students. "I'm sorry, Mon-mon. It's a matter of honor between men." What was pride worth to a commoner? Shinji wasn't giving up anything that was ever his in the first place, while he had everything to lose in refusing.

-o-

"What do you want?" Guiche asked acidly. He was brought into a side garden for the private discussion. Outwardly he retained that superior air, but inwardly he was creeped out by Shinji's proximity. It was as if a switch had been thrown in the atavistic portion of his brain, and a sharpened sixth sense warned of primal dangers. His expression brightened as Shinji explained. "Oh. Well, why didn't you just say so?"

"I just did." the boy replied innocently. "Siesta-san has been taken away to be someone's mistress. I want her back."

Guiche grinned. "Really now, if it was just a matter of love - ah no, don't bother denying it, I won't listen - I'd be happy to help. Of course you'd go to me for assistance. There really was no need for all that rigmarole."

Shinji nodded. "It's your own safety net, Gramont. The person who took her was a certain Count Mott."

That quickly forced some seriousness back into Guiche. "I see. That could be a problem, yes." He scratched at his his long blond hair and sighed. "If you don't know, Count Mott and my family... we don't exactly get along."

"Both womanizers. Competitors." At Guiche's affronted look, Shinji continued with "Let me ask you this, the Gramont family... you're an old military lineage right? A fighter and a lover, tell me Gramont-san, what is your opinion regarding rapists?"

Guice scowled deeply now. "What are you...? Listen to me, such a thing...! Pah! Sex without love is worth nothing! Someone who forces himself onto a woman is nothing but scum! Though there are those who dislike the well-earned reputation of a Gramont, never have we taken liberties with a woman without her willing consent! Don't you dare compare a Gramont to..." and here Guiche's eyes opened. "To a Mott."

"I'm not here to pass judgement on anyone. Could you tell me a little of the disagreements between our family and Count Mott?"

Surprisingly, despite the well-deserved reputation for being a shameless skirt-chaser, the patriarch of the Gramont family treated his sons quite well. Guiche was the fourth-born son, born of a different mother than the first two and the third, but was considered a full-blooded Gramont anyway. He wouldn't inherit the estate, but would be provided for decently. It was actually part of why the Gramont estates didn't expand so much, the family's few assets kept on being parceled out and folded into each other, and military service guaranteed provisioning for every son without having much in the way of land.

"Mott is infamous in certain circles. He's a royal messenger, which gives him entry into different nobles circles. He's still unmarried, taking on mistresses as he wants. This leaves a lot of bastard sons, and he's having fun seeing others try to make him choose who inherits. It's an ugly mess." Unlike any of the Gramont, who actually had to put effort into wooing their women being relatively low nobility, Count Mott used his wealth and political influence to pull off the knickers.

A true lover of women loathed rapists above all others. Even a young playboy such as Guiche knew exactly where was the line to cross, and though he could slide close to coercion he was conditioned even stronger to refuse the temptation.

Guiche looked thoughtful. "Listen, Ikari... you might not like it, but this maid of yours, she did leave. Even if you say she was taken away, it's true that it's difficult for her to ever get any chance so good to get wealth and power." He tensed up, ready to deflect violent protest.

"You're right. This is just fickle chance." Shinji replied evenly, much to Guiche's surprise. The shorter teen touched the bridge of his nose with his white gloves. "I don't know Count Mott, but I do know Siesta-san's mind. She's a simple farmer girl. A city girl may have some grounding in social situations, but all she has is observing how nobles behave in this castle. Even if Count Mott goes so far as to give her etiquette and socialization lessons... it's going to be difficult for her to adapt. It's going to be difficult for her to -_pretend_-. She knows she's just the latest fuck-toy of some noble she doesn't even know, to be used and discarded at his whim. She won't be happy." he spat. "I don't need to be a prophet to say this will happen."

"This is a difficult situation, Ikari." Guiche crossed his arms and nodded approvingly. "But an honorable man won't just let this happen. All right, I give my word that I'll help. But you should know, it might be better if he doesn't know of my involvement."

"Actually, I'm counting on the reputation of the Gramont name. Siesta-san is... an easy conquest. A commoner couldn't really offer much resistance. I'm hoping he will jump at the chance to put one over someone of house Gramont. It would soothe his pride more to know you might owe him a little debt of honor, if I'm reading his correctly. Since you're from this castle, he's likely to believe you're trying to take back someone you've already claimed as your own. While there would be some pleasure at taking away something you valued, this would make Siesta-san seem like spoiled goods."

Guiche narrowed his eyes suspiciously and looked over this strange servant. The shadows under the tree seemed darker than they should be. "You're a lot different than what I expected." he had to say. That monstrous berserker from the duel was at complete odds with this intelligently intense figure before him.

Shinji smiled thinly. "I'll take that as a compliment, my lord Gramont."

Guiche looked away nervously. "So I just have to pretend I actually know this girl? You do realize he's still likely to ask something to make it worth his trouble? This is servant business, I don't know these things." With an amused sniff. "I don't have that sort of money."

"Don't worry about that." Shinji smiled slightly again. "By the way, what do you know of Miss Longueville?"

"Longueville? Ah... her. Osmond's secretary? Mmm yes. She's got quite the mature allure, doesn't she? Very prim, very professional, and even I can tell she's out of my league. Give it up Ikari. She's way too much for you."

"Heh. Get your mind out of the gutter, Gramont, and think over what you're going to say. Just prepare yourself." The boy sucked his breath in and stepped back deeper into the shadow of the tree. "I'll handle the the dirty details."

"Hey don't do anything ille-" A strong wind blew, and Guiche put a hand over his face to shield against the leaves flying through the garden. When he put it down, he found he was alone. He looked around, and blinked at the harsh light of the sun. "Huh. Is he going to keep on doing that? I have a feeling this is going to get really annoying." he said to himself.

-o-

It was a good two hours by horse to reach the Mott estate. Siesta reached it by mid-morning. She felt numb, and the servants sent to fetch her kept a careful distance. The maids at the manor bowed to her, but stiffly, and told her that the master was still away. A bath and a small luncheon was already prepared.

Siesta sought their eyes, and saw there only a bit of puzzled pity. She didn't look like a noble, after all. Her build was shapely but stocky, a true working woman's physique. They had been warned that a new mistress was coming, but then they had already served many mistresses. Siesta wondered if they were laughing at her coarseness behind their bland, servile expressions.

She allowed herself to be led around, her clothes changed, and her bath drawn. The only order she gave came in the form of a negation - no, she'd prefer to bathe alone - when asked. She slid into the warm scented pool and still felt cold. Keeping her head down, trying to be ignored, offending no one; that was how a village woman could get by in the city. Passively moving through life, Siesta wondered how it could have gone so wrong. Was the universe paying her back for the crime of finding new contentment?

Her thoughts went to a boy, with his rounded face and straight black hair. He'd be so disgusted with her right now. Of course he'd think she was a wanton woman, but she couldn't bear seeing that change pass over his face. Better if she just suddenly vanished, better if he dismissed her entirely as of no further consequence to his own life... it was selfish of her, Siesta knew, but at least she saved both of them unnecessary pain. In a week she'd felt that they could have been friends, but 'what could have been' was a thought that could grow bitter if left unpruned. She was pathetic, she had come to accept this. She could throw away her body because it had no value.

Siesta cupped some water in her palms and watched it trickled down between her legs. "I don't want to make anyone angry or sad. I just don't want to be hurt. Is that so bad?" she whispered. She had no power of her own. People would already be thinking she was a greedy bitch, it wouldn't change anything no matter how humble she tried to behave. And yet, she couldn't take the idea of acting all haughty like the bitch they expected.

She just didn't know what to do. It would be so much easier to just let others keep on deciding things for her. She'd already lost hope. She closed her eyes and slid deeper into the sunken tub. There was a bleak few moments as she held herself underwater, pondering if it would be that much simpler too just to let herself drown. It wasn't like she tried to seduce anyone... but just like before, just like the village, she was being punished again for being the victim.

Siesta broke out of the water. She just wanted a simple life without much to regret, damn it! Dying would be the only true defeat. Somehow, no matter what, she just had to endure. It was all she could do. That was her place in life, she was told. Be a good girl. Do as you're told. Don't aim too high, don't put on airs.

Endure.

Change was frightening. She was still slightly in shock. She just wanted things to stay the same, but she'd survive this too. In some way, refusing to change herself was a form of adaptation. She thought of the Count and imagined his touch on her body and shivered. She wanted to scream out for someone to take it away, again pull from her the power of choice, because how the hell had that served her so far?

For some reason a phrase stuck in her mind: Where have all the good men gone? Where are the gods?

She was just a village girl. She needed a hero.

-o-

Miss Longueville licked her lips and stared at her reflection in the mirror. She checked the neatness of the bun arrangement of her long green. With her glasses on and only the minimum of makeup, the effect was to look reasonably attractive but also forbidding. Miss Longueville was a comfortable mask, and quite effective in that it was at least as real as Fouquet. These were both Gallian names, and the truth of her existence had vanished alongside the lands she called home. Where Foquet was daring, Longueville was calm. Where the thief burst out from secret hiding places, Longueville walked with a long-suffering sigh through the door. She smiled at the mirror, Longueville's gentle and vulnerable smile.

She bowed her head and looked up. There was Fouquet's superior smirk. She put her hands to cover her face and laughed. "How stupid." she muttered. A mage without a noble's name could be anybody. No wonder the peerage took such care to keep their titles, it gave them the only reliable root of truth in their world of glitttering illusion.

Waiting and leaning on facing the doorway to the women's washroom was Shinji Ikari. Miss Longueville cooly lifted an eyebrow at the boy. "Are you stalking me?" she asked in an edged tone.

"No, but Longueville-san, we need to talk."

"Do we? Maybe, but I don't have enough time right now. Come back later, after lunch." Sir Osmond liked to take a short nap by then, and also the time when she could actually get most of her work done without interference.

"I'm also short on time." Shinji replied while walking towards her. He stopped facing the taller woman. He noted that his height put him at about eye-level with her breasts. His blandly disinterested expression made her think of a cat out in the sun. His rounded Asiatic features made him seem even younger. "This is kind of important."

"I'll be the judge of that. Considering your situation, you should really be more careful of wasting my time."

Shinji shrugged off the threat. "You have leverage over me, Longueville-san, but isn't it still better if I have to owe you a favor instead of having you put pressure on my master? I've got a few skills that someday may be useful even to you."

She looked doubtful. "Such as...?"

Shinji shook his head. "That's valuable... even potentially dangerous information. Would you agree to an exchange of information?" He walked past her and opened the door to the washroom. "Um... can we talk about this where others won't notice?" he asked while pointing inside.

"That's the -_women's washroom_-, what do you think you're doing?"

Shinji stepped inside, wincing slightly as he expected all sort of magical anti-pervert measures to engage. Nothing. It was just a room. The large plate glass mirror and the stalls were again more anachronisms in this weird half-medieval semi-modern world. Magic replacing science, he wondered just how much the convenience of easy cures had retarded industrial development while at the same time allowing for certain conveniences impossible to a world that had to obey physics. He tilted his head aside. Of course, by the standards of this universe, the laws of physics as he knew them was the drab fantasy.

He looked calmly up to Miss Longueville's eyes and raised his hands slowly in what he hoped was a surrendering and concialiatory manner."I'm sorry, Longueville-san. There's still a lot a don't know about magic, but... it's magic. I thought a room like this would have some protection against scrying." It was an old school full of teenagers, after all. Magic had such potential for many voyeuristic uses.

Miss Longueville scoffed. "Are you sure you're not just a little pervert?" Rather than make a scene, she went inside. "You're starting to annoy me. It's too much of a coincidence, how did you know I'd be here anyway?"

Shinji raised his right thumb. "Did you know that every person's thumbprint is unique? The patterns of whorls may look the same, but the lines will never match up from person to person. Grease from hands can be left on objects, and when pressed it can be used to match suspects to their scenes of the crime."

"That's... nice to know, but it doesn't answer my question." Inwardly, she was ready to bolt. Does he know? She'd indulged in a little leverage and now this boy was turning it around ready for full blackmail. Miss Longueville screamed silently for herself not to give anything away.

Shinji smiled sadly. "I can do the same with -souls-. There's a limit to it, but no one can hide from me. That's how I was able to track you down to this place. It's really just a coincidence that you were heading out of the headmaster's office anyway."

Miss Longueville all but staggered. Normally she would have laughed at such a baldly ludicrous declaration. Unfortunately, she had enough knowledge of his strange abilities that it just -might- be possible. "You... that's impossible. Do you have any idea what that -means-?" If he wasn't lying, then it was an incredibly dangerous ability. Was it the power of a Legendary Familiar? If that was true, then she had to get out of the whole damn country as quickly as possible! "That can't be-...!"

And then, for an unfanthomable moment, the world opened inside-out. She felt both immense and infnitely small at the same time, and had the strangest sensation of being observed. Like a tiny fish being scooped out of a small fishbowl and back into the ocean.

And then it was over.

Miss Longueville hugged herself and shivered. Nothing whatsover had changed in her body or the surroundings around her. She wasn't cold, but did the gestures anyway because a deep dark part of her mind screamed that it -should- be cold, like a naked child screaming its first breath. "What...? What was that?" she asked hoarsely.

"It's something like an echo... one knows something is there by how the waves of sound bounces back." Shiji wondered how difficult it would be to make some sort of magical radar. "I'm sorry, you just experienced a sensing wave at pointblank range."

For all that the boy was doing it to save someone from abuse, now it was another woman that looked at him with fear and shame at her own weakness. He was just being a tremendous hypocrite now, using the force and fear to get compliance. Gendo had no self-delusions about ever being a good person. This was the quickest, most utilitarian route. Doing the bare minimum for the maximum possible effect, help the many at the sacrifice of just one. For all he knew, Miss Longueville was just a bored secretary, playing games with student's heads.

_'Look at that. Behind her eyes she is building the very chains to tie herself to your purpose. Give her more rope.' _A single 'ping' of soul radar, the lowest value of the AT-field, it was ironic that something much less impressive and probability-raping than an AT-field barrier would be much more intimidating to a human. Possibly because human minds were so limited in their comprehension. If it didn't look impressive, it wasn't powerful. _'Each person is mighty inside their own mind. Attack them there, and all defenses are thrown down.'_

"Shall we talk about my price for this information now?" he asked in a conversational tone.

Miss Longueville took deep breaths and scowled. She realized she had taken a few step back towards the door. Damn. She stood straight and prepared to take back control of the situation. That was... weird. It wasn't all that uncomfortable, or even disabling, but she now couldn't deny the posssibility he was telling the truth. That was an absurdly useful ability to have. Someone who could do that could become the perfect hunter... or the perfect thief. He was right, this -was- valuable to know. Its value decreased the more people knew of it, since that meant others could now take measures to avoid it. It was an amateurish mistake to reveal this much to... who? Miss Longueville, Old Osmond's secretary? A mage without a title? "What do you want?" she hissed out, her eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"I need advice, Longueville-san. Something might have crossed your desk yessterday? It shouldn't be unusual for you to look into this matter..."

And so he explained.

Miss Longueville blinked. She repeated the words in her head. "Are you insane?" she had to ask. "You're going this far for a maid?" Stupid, stupid little boy! Secrets were precious, and he gave away that one just for information he could have received through official channels anyway. If he'd talked to her later in the day, she could have obliged just for diversion's sake. "Count Mott isn't someone you can cross easily." She paused. "Are you in love, or something? Oh founder, that would explain so much about this stupidity."

"N-no. It's not like that." And concretely fixing that in her mind. He didn't concern himself with how Siesta wasn't given much value, even if the noble appraising her was a woman too. Just because she couldn't use magic, it shouldn't have been so miraculous for someone who did have power to care about her welfare. "And it doesn't really matter why... just what to do. Help me now, Longueville-san, and I might be in a position to pay you back sometime in the near future."

The secretary quirked her lips. "I'll hold you that. Remember it." It was even cute, in an inept but oddly powerful sort of way. Like a elephant trying to carefully step around a mouse. He was so young, and for all his strange powers is also helpless before her experience. Society would chew him up and spit him out. "All right. Just pay attention, and maybe this little exchange will work out in the end. You need to learn a little bit about servant contracts..."

-o-

Louise, despite his fears, turned out to be the least of Shinji's problems. She accepted with weary resignation the idea that he needed to get away from her side for a while. She had been expecting something like it, actually. School was so boring. Louise... looking at herself, she was so boring too. Of course he'd want some time to himself or to socialize with other nobles. At least it wasn't Kirche. With Guiche along it was likely some sort of boy business, and a proper lady didn't go thinking about such things lest it begin to germinate in her the seeds of unsparing feminine outrage. While she could force him to stay, there really wasn't much for him to do in class anyway.

Her passive-agressiveness manifested that as"What, so you're friends now with Guiche for some reason?" she scoffed. "I don't really care. Fine. Just go away, I don't need you right now." While she feared he'd do something that could be traced back to her, the girl did have to admit that he was particularly well-behaved, not just as a servant or familiar but as a person. A disappointed sigh from him accomplished more than minutes of loud complaining.

The most that Louise could fault him was that he didn't try harder to get her involved; she could use a bit of excitement too. Rumor was already out that the two were going off on some strange excursion, and really little adventures like that were also part of the school experience. Most just bid them 'good luck' and put it out of their minds. Shinji had cut off Kirche's curiosity by requesting Tabitha not to offer any aid regarding dragon transport. Kirche would have had better luck trying to move a mountain.

Guiche had hired a carriage, since Shinji didn't know how to ride a horse and like hell would Guiche share a ride with another man. He did have to pay it out of his own pocket, since Shinji's meager little savings couldn't cover even that. "I don't have one thousand five hundred new gold. Hell, I don't have five hundred." Guiche commented churlishly. "Just let me do the talking, all right? He's a Count, so he's already talking below his station with a student... inserting yourself into the discussion may be insulting. He could bring up the terms just to be jerk."

"There's no great secret to getting wealth." Shinji mused. It was as simple as not spending more than one one earns. "The main problem is getting it quickly enough to matter."

"We need to talk this out. No violence! Damn it, you don't even have any money for a promissory note. That official letter that Miss Longueville gave you just means the Academy is willing to recompense his payment... if he asks for it." Siesta's bond was actually a form of indentured servitude. She only got a quarter of it, the other half held in trust for the completion of her terms of service and doled out in portions per month. It was a fairly popular method of employment, for though it didn't offer as as much freedom as regular employment it did give a lot more cash up front. "He's got to give it up by choice. So it's just got to be my word that somehow we'll pay it back better."

The thing about such bonds was that they were -_transferable_-. It protected an employer of his or her skilled workers and artisans being tempted out from under him by better wages elsewhere but at the same time had the appeal of workers' skills being cultivated. It was to city dwellers as was the estate and serf system were for the villages. As slow reform and a need for more efficient farming arrangement took the countryside, old habits just grew new roots elsewhere. This rescue might actually be worse for Siesta, since she'd have to take a second loan from the Academy to pay off the first one. Still, even with his limited knowledge of the world's geopolitics Gendo Ikari had already thought of three measures to defer that.

Assuming, of course, Siesta was willing to leave. It would be ironic if he'd gone so far and she was just so utterly -practical- as embrace her new status. "I understand. It's your show, Gramont-san. Thank you again."

Guiche wasn't comforted. He was going to miss out on an afternoon's worth of classes, and while that wasn't too bad it was technically against the rules. What they were doing couldn't go under any official excuse, but at least he wouldn't suffer a demerit. Miss Longueville was turning out to be very useful ally to have. This little errand was turning out to be a lot of hassle, and sadly despite that it was for a woman's charms he wouldn't get the credit out of it. It was a matter of honor; he didn't carry that lady's favor. "Let's just keep things simple and maybe this wouldn't go too wrong."

By nightfall a forest was on fire.

i

i

i

* * *

So, yeah. I'm starting to drift away from canon now. As far as I can tell, Siesta had a fairly happy home life. I'm changing that, though her father here really isn't as bad as her impression of him may indicate.


	5. Chapter 5: Warning

**Points of Familiarity**

chapter five

ị

ị

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-o-

The safehouse turned out to be a hole in the ground dug out over three days. It was hidden under an old tent in what looked like an abandoned campsite. The entrance was a shaft about six feet deep, and below was an improvised bunker with glassy rock walls. A tiny lamp provided light, and a mini-electric stove warmth. To the young man, who still held the apple in his hand, the cramped cave was much more inviting than the terrifying expanse of blue that was the sky of the world of Fire-Life.

"Give it here."

"Eh?" Then, seeing his mission partner's outstretched hand, he quickly and somewhat fearfully handed over the apple.

The woman just sighed and took out a small throwing knife. With trained ease and precision she began to peel the apple. "You're still such a child, Roland." she said blandly, and finished up by cutting the apple into four pieces. "Still out to prove your worth to your father? Don't be too eager and screw this up for me."

Behind his helmet, Roland flushed angrily. His voice, while indignant, was shaky with fear. "I-I know what to do." Numbly he received the pieces of fruit back, and sat there not knowing what to do. To eat it, he'd have to remove his helmet. But the severe visafe of the faceplate served to trap in his nervousness. He feared his confidence would unravel entirely if she could just see his emotions.

The woman, as if reading his mind, just smirked. His body language, slight as it was, betrayed his bravado. His shoulders slumped and, one-handed, he began to undo the seals for his helmet. They called her the Maiden of Long Grass, the Mistress of the Outer Work. When the boy's father wove and cut and restitched a tapestry of time, only she managed to remain unchanged through it all. Bending, as was written, before the storms and seeing the new sun when the mightiest and proudest of trees had fallen. More than that however, she was the terror of his childhood, who had all but raised him and forged him to be the tool of his father.

Roland had the ivory pallor of someone who had never known the sun, and under his curly yellow hair there was the inherited fragility that only inner stubborness could preserve. He put an apple slice into his mouth and almost gagged from the sweetness. His jaw locked up, the nerves stinging. Her laughter was like frozen rain.

-o-

Getting past the guards was easy. All Guiche had to do was to say he was the son of GENERAL De Gramont. The master of the house was absent, but his estate was ready to accept noble guests. It would be most impolite to send a military noble to the village.

"So he's not even here?" Shinji groaned.

"Mott is the royal messenger. He's a _noblesse de robe_, that means nobility made noble by holding official charges. He's not going to pass up being invited to eat at the palace or other estates." Guiche shrugged. "It's a little game to see who can get away with not eating at home for the longest."

"So it's like, being cajoled into other people's homes, that shows you have influence?"

"Exactly."

"Um. So what about your own family, Gramont-san?"

"Aha. I guess you could say we play that game too. We're _noblesse militarie_. We've been been noble two or three generations before Mott."

Shinji nodded in thanks. "So what do now? We just wait?" His expressin brightened. "Wait, if he's not here, and Siesta-san is here..."

"Mott still hasn't gotten his hooks into her. Yes." Guiche leaned back on the velvet couch in the mansion's study. "I certainly don't recommend grabbing her and running away while the getting's good though." He crossed his legs and smirked. "Hey, tell me at least the maid is here, maid."

The maid who showed them in had the carefully-cultivated impassiveness of a career servant. "If you're referring to mistress Siesta, then... she's here."

"Gramont. You're being rude."

"No, you are. I'm going this far to help you, and I'm noticing your honorifics vanished since we got here. Isn't calling me by name implying..." here he grimaced "intimacy?"

Shinji looked to his white-gloved hands and sighed. "It may also mean that you're in danger of losing your teeth." Shinji bowed to the maid. "I apologize for my companion's manners. He's just a noble. He doesn't know any better. Um, may I know your name?"

"It's Madolen, sir. And it's all right, sir."

"I'm not a sir. I work for a living." the boy gave a weak smile. "Guiche, please apologize to Madolen-san. Now."

Guiche snorted. He supposed he should be insulted, but Shinji's appearance of frail outrage just couldn't put any weight into those bluster-filled words. "Oh, fine. My apologies, miss Madolen." He took a sniff of the rose at the tip of his wand. "Now if your master isn't around, then do... please... tell your mistress that a certain whiny little familiar is here for her."

"Coffee?" Shinji said with a slight whine as another maid brought in the refreshments. "Not tea?"

"What do we look like, a bunch of stiff-necked cloud-eaters? This is Tristania, not Albion." Guiche said aside. "And don't dip your biscuits in it, oh Saints, how uncultured can you get?"

The two maids glanced at each other. Guiche was the very model of a young noble, while Shinji was very clearly a servant. They had no way of knowing that the two had only really had the past few hours of meaningful interaction. What they saw was the casual contempt long, friendly familiarity. "If that will be all?" the older maid asked. "We will inform the mistress."

"One more thing."

Madolen turned to see that the young servant had laced his white-gloved fingers together. Rather than look dangerous however, he just seemed constipated. "Yes? Is there something you require? If you'd like to... freshen up... there is a nearby bath room. I could show it to you?"

"No, no... all these books." Shinji waved an arm around the walls filled with shelving. "Does Count Mott ever actually read these books or are they just for show?"

"I can assure you, sir, that lord Mott is very well-informed."

"Hm. I see. Thank you."

-o-

The maids in the Mott mansion were uniformly young and pretty. They were, surprisingly, not often called to serve their master's desires. Count Mott preferred his women to still be in bed when he woke up. Seeing his bed partners working in the day was somewhat irritating to him, it cheapened the events in the night. He wanted to feel that his women had lives that revolved around him alone and while technically that was the case for the maids, their work naturally make it clear they had lives and skills of their own. Taking them to the master bedroom that they would have to clean later on, it made him feel like he was nothing more than just another low whore's client. High-class courtesans were ironically given better regard than most nobles did for their wives. The hired help had no spice to them.

Madolen had served there the longest, about five years now. She was still beautiful, but it was a long time since she had to serve on her knees. She was in fact, already married. Her husband was a tailor in the village near the estate, and much as he might want his wife to leave the mansion the job just paid too well.

Siesta was in her own sumptous room in the mansion. It overlooked the gardens, and she wondered how it was such wide windows felt more confining than metal bars on a cage.

When the head main entered with a respectful curtsy, she wanted to wilt under the head maid's cool gaze. With no emotion, the head maid informed her mistress of the vistors.

"Should I have the guards send them away, mistress?"

"What? No! I mean... if they came all this way. I guess I should meet them?"

"It would be polite. But you are the mistress of this household."

Siesta laughed mockingly. "Am I really?"

"Your authority is undisputed, mistress. We're all here to make your stay in this mansion as... easy... as possible." Madolen replied softly. "We're always ready to help, mistress."

"That's not comforting. You're making it sounds so scary."

"With all due respect, mistress, we've all been there." Mott was a 'generous' person. He like to 'share' his mistresses, cultivating them like flowers to be traded for favors from other nobles. "This is the life we get as common women. We've all got to make the best of it. If you'll let us, we can help you avoid the... scars... in places that people can't see."

Siesta slumped. "But... you won't help me run away, right?"

Madolen looked to the outside garden. She knew the punishments that Mott could give to 'misbehaving' mistresses. He wouldn't do anything that would permanently ruin their beauty or break them into insanity. He would not do anything to the maids, they weren't worth his time. And then outside, a lot of tragic things can happen to his servant's families.

-o-

For most of the past hundred fifty years, Helkeginia was under a Gallian hegemony. Gallic thought, language, art and sensibilities defined what it meant to be a courtly noble. Gallia was the not the largest among the Helkeginian kingdoms, and but one with the most farmland. Its aristocracy was tied deeply to their lands, and their knightly orders well acquainted in the flow of power from the cities down to the countryside. The wealth and military power this afforded them was aped by the nations around them, lest they seem backwards and ill-mannered by comparison. Tristain had far less land, smallest among the kingdoms descended from Brimir's time, and yet strangely had a higher density of nobility than the others. A lot of nobles served just as functionaries, waiting to be called up as battle-mages.

Count Mott as a royal messenger was expected to be better than the usual regarding magical abilities. While in practice any message could be delivered faster and safer through messenger hawks and code, he was supposed to be discreet and willing to guard the word of the Crown with his life. He was feared also, for only a Royal Messenger could carry the order to strip another noble of his title and lands.

Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how one may see it, Count Mott found the cool disinterest of the young ladies at court to have sapped his appetite. He'd decided to come home early. He had other more enjoyable pastimes that were his right and due as a noble.

He was too important to waste any of his time with children; he thought. Children who were too stupid or too ignorant to show any fear. The young sire of Gramont was as undeservedly smug as the rest of his brood of little influence. The other... Count Mott scowled slightly. The Gramont was effete and weak-wristed, yet how was it another boy in sober black manservant clothes could seem even more disturbingly... girly? Male nobility were expected to show some deliberate shows of frailty or soft stylings, to show how they were too powerful and wealthy to waste their time working the land. This only served to emphasize their masculine traits, pure androgynity was not meant to be reached.

"It has come to our attention that a certain maid from the Academy is now in your household." Guiche said carefully, trying to make it sound as if just discussing the weather. He sat relaxed on the couch facing Count Mott, while Shinji sat on another chair off to the side.

The Count smirked. How so perfectly obvious. It was the other that was even slightly harder to read. Not a noble. Dark hair, dark eyes, carried a sword... a relative perhaps? _'If this young Gramont thinks he has any prior claim, he's out of luck.'_ "Mmhmm. Possibly."

"She is here." the dark young commoner said firmly. "We need to speak to her."

"Hush!" Guiche raised his hand. "You agreed to let me deal with this."

"I apologize, young master."

Count Mott rubbed his chin at the display. Okay, perhaps the young Gramont might not have any direct interest in this. "And what would you want to speak to her about?"

"Just a few harmless questions regarding her stay here. There's no point in saying more without knowing her willingness on this matter."

Some time later, the head maid returned to annouce "Mistress Siesta, my lords." Siesta didn't look like a noble even in the rich red dress. Her face was a bit too broad, but it was mostly her posture. She carried none of the confidence a noble would have worn, the dress just being another layer, and seemed more like a dressed-up doll. The young woman eeped at seeing who were there to see her.

"So, you do know these people?" accusingly asked Mott.

"Um. Lord Gramont is a student in the castle. And... mister Ikari." She wrung her hands together. "I'm sorry for leaving so suddenly..."

"It's all right, Siesta-san." Shinji replied evenly. "There are other things more important right now."

"So, you two aren't related?"

"Not directly." Shinji replied for her instead. "But I do feel responsible for her welfare."

Both Mott and Guiche frowned at his directness. A commoner just had no delicacy about negotiations. "Fine. You have questions to ask my mistress? Then ask." the count said with cool contempt.

Shinji took a deep breath. "Is this really what you want?"

Siesta looked away.

"To reach our dreams, sometimes we must wear [Masks]." Shinji continued, his expression blandly disapproving. "But this one is not for you. You can't escape your destiny this way. He doesn't have the [Power] to protect you. Come home, Siesta."

The maid wilted. As she had feared, his disgust was more than she could bear. "I can't... I'm not..."

"Are you threatening my mistress, boy?"

"No. I'm asking her, right here, right now- do you want me to leave you like this? You're made for better things than this, Siesta. I won't ask again. Just say it's what you want, and I won't bother you anymore."

"You've ceased to be amusing, boy. Leave before I do something you'll regret."

Seista put her hands to her head and winced. She'd never been good at taking decisive action. Something was screaming inside her skull, it was her voice, and cursing her for being a fool, a worthless sack of flesh, if she would give up her own future just to be used up and discarded by this hateful noble.

"P-please."

"Hm?"

"I-... I'm sorry. I'm very sorry." Siesta refused to look up. Shinji's shoulders began to slump as he let out his breath, his fists unclenching. At least he'd tried this time. It wasn't his fault if she didn't wan't to be saved. "But... I can't stay here."

Seista looked up shyly, and saw the sheer delight and relief in his face. Suddenly it was like a sun came alive in her heart. 'Thank you', the boy mouthed out silently. But why? Shouldn't she be the one saying that?

"Guiche!" Shinji said excitedly.

"Yes, yes, keep yourself under control." Guiche rubbed a hand through his curly blonde hair and sighed. "Listen, Lord du Mott, while we don't really have any case to take her away... please consider her wishes, and we're willing to recompense you for your trouble. A contract is a contract. There should be an exit clause... slavery is illegal in Helkeginia, you know."

Count Mott scowled. This was an insult. But it would be more demeaning to his dignity to be clinging to a mere commoner mistress. "Oh, so be it. Am I not generous? If you can produce two thousand new gold, she is released from my service. As my mistress she could have gained much more, and power over this entire state... but ."

"We have a draft secured by Tristain Academy. We'd like to leave before..." Guiche trailed off, leaving the carnal implications unsaid but clearly communicated. "As soon as possible."

The boy couldn't resist twisting in a jibe against his family's nemesis. That was a mistake. Count Mott scoffed. "I refuse that mode of payment. As soon as I receive REAL money, may she leave my service." He plucked at his pencil moustache and leered. And until that happens, he was free to do whatever he wanted. Nobles and commoners went to different courts and she had already given consent anyway.

"Ugh. Is there some other way?"

Mott waved aside. "As you can see, I am well-educated person with a liking for the classics. I am willing to overlook the whole thing if you can get me... say, the Legendary Summoned book, which is said to drive a man mad lust on sight!"

"So we have to treasure-hunt for a rare book in one day? That's even more impossible! If it was in Tristain, you'd have found it already!"

"Such as it is. Either meet my conditions, or don't bother me with your nonsense again.

"I have a counter-proposal." Shinji said suddenly, crossing his arms over his chest. "For the pleasures of Siesta-san as your mistress, how about I trade you a night that you will never forget or ever experience again?"

Mott blanched. "I'm no pederast, boy. I should strike you down for that insult."

The teen tilted his head to the side and smiled thinly. "There is no one living on this world that can possibly even come close to knowing the intricacies of the human body as well as I do. I can play music with pleasure and pain." He nodded to Siesta, who looked shocked and slightly ill. "I am given to understand that such things have value in your society."

"Hah. No courtesan is worth a thousand five hundred new gold for a night. And more than once... no, that's how rumors start." He turned towards Guiche and smirked. "And you know, it's very... interesting... that you'd go this far for your '_friend'_."

Outrage flashed across Guiche's face, but Count Mott's wand was already out. Shinji remained impassive. Due to his height, he could only carry Derflinger on his shoulder, and it would take too long to draw his sword in defense. "Two thousand gold in a few hours is unrealistic." the young noble hissed out. "How about a fourth of that, five hundred gold, the rest guaranteed by Tristain Academy?"

"How about half?"

"That's one thousand gold! Almost two thirds what you paid in the first place!"

"Agreed." Shinji cut in. "Until that time you Will Not. Touch Her."

Count Mott sneered again. "Don't tell me what do, commoner."

"If you have honor, you will have the discipline to command your own base urges." Shinji replied evenly. "There are prophecies here that you are interfering with. Do so at your own peril."

"Hah. What prophecies?" How pathetic. To be grasping at whatever futile little threats.

"Would you even believe me?" Shinji smirked in return, touching the bridge of his nose with his white-glove fingers. "You have been adequately warned."

"Get out. And take your tamed Gramont donkey with you."

"You fu-"

"Let's go, Guiche-san. There's nothing more that needs to be done here."

"And you! I will KILL YOU."

Mott laughed, loud and mockingly. He snapped his fingers and the guards standing by the door of the salon raised their weapons. "Make your lover's spat elsewhere. Don't stain my carpets with your worthless blood. I'll leave you to figure out how to... earn... your money."

-o-

As soon as they left the gate, Guiche punched Shinji in the face.

"I suppose I deserved that." the boy mumbled woozily.

"You idiot! Do you have any idea how humiliating... how much of an insult you've offered in there? And that filthy Mott now thinks I'm... ugh! I should NEVER have agreed to this! This has been such a waste of time."

"On the contrary, Guiche-san, I feel it was very productive."

Guiche curled his upper lips. "Oh really? And where are we supposed to get one thousand gold by tomorrow?" He shivered. "I can't believe... you just so easily offered to be a manwhore. Hey! You're standing too close- stay away from me!" The disgust was not so much for the perceived unnaturalness, but because the teen was already quite unnatural without that. From what Guiche could see, Ikari was utterly shameless, and utterly amoral. There was something inhuman behind his eyes.

"What makes you think that Count Mott will ever consider living up to his bargain? I understand... people like him." Shinji said calmly. "We saw the guards, we saw how his mansion is protected. We saw what he values." Peeople like Mott took comfort in knowing what they have power over. The unexpected, they could get enough advance warning to roll with the times. Something sudden, something utterly beyond their world-view.

In his mind a gentleman with a long nose spoke of how far a man might go to redress a slight to his honor or to gain the favor of a lady. Great deeds, great daring, a total lack of fear. This was what made a man. A martyr for his culture. It was a sad thing, to have outlawed duels. Guiche couldn't challenge Mott anyway, since they were on entirely different rungs of the social ladder- a noble mancan only be shamed in accepting a duel from a mere student-mage, while the young only exposes a total lack of wit. But ah- without duels, then they would have forgotten the taste of terror. Sadism and lechery, spoke the playwright, was the mark of a man full of fear- not one free from it.

On his back, Derflinger approvingly said "Oh, so were paying attention after all, partner? A bunch of half-trained louts. You don't have to fear any mage with me by your side. We should attack tonight!"

"Oh hell no. I didn't sign up for this. Stealing is one thing, which by the way I wouldn't have agreed to anyway, but attacking a court noble? You're insane! He knows who I am!"

Shinji just smiled. "No, he just thinks he spoke to Guiche de Gramont. Does he really -know-...?"

Guiche groaned. "Just what are you planning?"

Shinji just looked up at the sky instead. Something large circled above the mansion, the blue of its skin difficult to spot against the blue of the sky. Dragon eyes stared down, seeming to lock gazes with him despite the distance. A dragonish grin and a playful barrel-roll was the reply to his wave of hello from below.

-o-

Meanwhile, back in Tristain Academy, Miss Longueville entered the washroom where she'd been accosted by 'that boy'. Convincing Old Osmond of guaranteeing the draft had been easy. While one thousand five hundred gold was a large sum for anyone, it was just a drop in the Academy's discretionary funds. She stared at her reflection in the mirror. If embezzlement wasn't so boring, she could perhaps gain more wealth from scouring the Academy and their contacts rather than take the risk of breaking into people's houses and messing with their stuff.

Wealth wouldn't help her. It wouldn't bring anything back. Neither would revenge, but at least that made the days bearable.

"Fouquet."

Miss Longueville didn't react. She saw no one behind her in the wide mirror.

"Mathilda of Saxe-Gotha."

At that, she quickly whirled around, wand out. There was no one directly behind her either. "Who's there? Show yourself!"

"Here."

The air above her shimmered to reveal a figure crouching on the wall, in defiance of gravity. The figure had distinctively long silken black hair held back by a silvered headband. All else were matte black. The figure vaulted smoothly, flipping over Miss Longueville's head to land standing, all without a sound. The speaker was clearly female, with an armored corset and long plated leather gloves. The fashion seemed familiar to Miss Longueville somehow. Except, she noticed, that the puffed shoulders seemed to be armor and the long skirt seemed to be made of tiny overlapping plates like banded mail. The frilled edges of the skirt and tabard were like tough slats.

"This is going to be a habit, isn't it?" Miss Longueville sighed as she put aside her wand. Whoever this person was, she looked extremely dangerous. Her eyes flicked to the plated gloves. The armored woman had a shield on her back and a thin saber by her side. This close, the secretary wasn't sure she could pull off a spell before being physically assaulted and maybe get a few ribs broken. "I shouldn't be going into any of these washrooms alone any more."

"Possibly. If only you had any friends among the other women of the staff. Their conversations and obsessions have never interested a combat mage like you."

Miss Longueville crossed her arms over her chest. "I could say I don't know what you're talking about... but I'm not in the mood for any games. Who are you and what do you want?" If this person was good enough to track her background that far, it was pointless to deny the rest.

"I'm not your enemy, Mage of the Crumbling Sands." the woman replied. "You may call me... Sasaki, I suppose."

There was that hard _'ih'_ sound again. Ikar_**i**_. Sasak_**i**_. "Any relation to that boy that Valliere summoned?"

"Indirectly." replied Sasaki. "Just as I am not your enemy, he's not exactly my ally." There was surprising vehemence there.

"I don't care. I don't know you, and unless you want revenge for something that... Fouquet... may have done, obviously you're talking to me because you want something. Say your case and go."

Sasaki nodded. "Direct as ever, Mathilda-san. All right. Tell me, are you still interested in the Staff of Destruction?" At seeing wariness descend on the mage thief's expression she added. "No, don't worry, we don't have any interest in claiming or protecting it. It's just nostalgic... each time, you try, as far as we're concerned, it's yours by right. But each time, the Staff of Destruction is different too."

"I have no idea what you're talking about. Who is this 'we'? Who do you work for?"

"Eheheh... There's no need to go into that. If you want the Staff of Destruction, it's in our best interests to help you get it."

"Hmf. And I suppose it's in 'my best interests' not to refuse your 'help'?"

"Oh, no- it's your help we need. That vault is as impervious to our magic as it is to yours so far. But we can help you another way... a bit of information, in exchange for a small future favor that we may ask."

Miss Longueville scowled. "Too many favors owed. No. I refuse."

"But I tell you something useful anyway. The magics in that vault are impervious to our own. But not to Louise de Valliere... Louise Le Blanc, who uses the power of Void."

There was only one word the mage thief could say to that. "Horseshit."

"The power of Void overcomes all magic. It is the death of the world if left uncontrolled." Sasaki replied, amused. "Obtain the Staff of Destruction, Mathilda of Saxe-Gotha, and learn what power may stand against Brimir's own peril."

"I don't have to stay here and listen to this." Contemptously, she pushed aside this strange woman (and tried to hide a wince as her fleshy shoulder struck one encased in hard armor and went for the door. She paused before leaving. "What, you're not going to try and blackmail me into doing what you want?"

"No, it wouldn't work anyway. You're resourceful like that." Sasaki replied without looking back. "We have no interest in fighting you so far, please accept this token of goodwill in the spirit it was given."

That only made prickled Fouquet's paranoid nerves even more. There was a reason she preferred to work alone. Dangerous secrets and hidden goals- what pointless nonsense. There was only the thrill of the theft and the humiliation of the unwary. She needed nothing, gave nothing; it was a mistake to try and involve herself with other people. Already she was thinking on leaving the castle

... but not before seeing the Staff of Destruction. If someone else was interested in it, then it might really be worth it.

As she left, Sasaki chuckled lightly in the silence of the washroom. "It was really good to see you again, Mathilda. You deserve better than this." She put a finger to the side of her ear. "Confirmation on target? Yes. Just stay there. Warn me if they decide to come back, but the probability is highest that they'll finish it by tonight." The Maiden thought briefly of the inciting cause of this whole thing, and touched the metal eyepatch over her eye. This was the one day they were sure Ikari would be away from Valliere. This was a day burned into her memory.

-o-

"Have you eaten yet?" Count Mott had asked in a deceptively kind tone. At her sheepish no, he then offered her some meat.

He brandished his wand, and utterly terrified Siesta felt strength drain from her legs.

Count Mott found her efforts unsatisfying and grasped her head firmly with both hands. "Little idiots. Fine, if I'm going to get some more gold out of you... I won't touch you there. But you can still touch me." he snarled as he thrust at the back of her throat. He laughed, not having moved from the seat. Being forbidden it just made it more worth it. He supposed he should be a little bit grateful to those idiots for the spice they inadvertedly gave the experience.

Later, in her room Madolen brought her strong clear wine. "You're lucky..." the head maid said gently. "No... not about that, please don't glare at me, mistress. At least you have someone who was willing to go this far."

Siesta wanted to burn her mouth and her throat. She wanted to burn completely. Her flesh, her dress, this mansion. "I hate them. I don't want to, but I hate them for not going far enough."

Madolen sniffed. "And what, fight against a court noble? Die in battle or be executed anyway? Nothing comes easy for those like us, mistress. We just have to wait and endure."

"That.." Siesta wiped tears from the side of her face with the back of her clenched fists. "That doesn't sound enough anymore."

-o-

And the sun went down from the sky. Count Mott glanced at the clock and smirked. Just foolish bravado. Even if the Gramont family raised that sum, then they'd still be out so much for the foolishness of one son. At the very least, they'd need it to give him something or he'd start make some 'careless' remarks about the preferences of one of their sons. It was a very good day.

He called for the head maid and ordered her to prepare Siesta for the night. It would be a very good night.

In a dark copse of trees outside the mansion, three figures waited. Sylphied was far too obvious, someone could connect the familiar easily to her master. However, seeing from Sylphied's eyes, Tabitha was able to monitor the other end of the mansion. "Clear." said the blue-haired girl.

"Thank you again for agreeing to this, Tabitha-san." said Shinji. "You're sure your friend and my master won't do anything foolish like to show up trying to help?"

"Tied up." Tabitha replied simply. Literally. She was good with knots.

"Foolish? We're fools!" Guiche hissed. Shinji and Tabitha... they both looked younger than him, and yet so easily and nonchalantly they slid into the delivery of brutal violence. Even Tabitha must have known about this from the start. "I can't believe I'm really going to do this. You do know that Mott is at least a Triangle water mage, right? There is no way he's not going to connect this assault with who we are, if we're so obviously taking away that maid."

Shinji sat leaning on a rock, clenching and unclenching his fist. There were people who seemed to vibrate with energy, possessing 'magnetic' personalities. Great leaders of men. He was not one of those people. Gendo Ikari even when he'd held the whole world by the balls, could never be such a leader. The boy felt like a spent battery. His father could inspire by direct interaction a few people - to obsessive levels, yes - but claiming them and draining them of their vitality.

He felt a strange urge to giggle. He just had a mental image of Gendo Ikari being some typical deadbeat dad without a job, sitting in front of the TV and drinking beer. Ironically, he would have been a better father with that anyway. Now with the man's goals all fulfilled (that, and being dead) Gendo had no reason to give anything but apathy. In some way, interacting with his son in his typical abrasive manner was to try and live up to his own fatherly obligations.

"There's no reason to be afraid of Mott or legal repercussion, Guiche-san." said Shinji. He'd spent the last few days mulling over the difference betwen this 'magic' used by the people of this world and his own AT-field, which was practically magic on its own. Both seemed to defy conventional undertanding of the physical laws, driven by willpower and imagination, but nonetheless were distinct from each other. Which was just too weird, since as Ritsuko had put it _'How can you have opposite polarity to the soul and still be alive?' _

He had very little to risk, personally, but he'd involved others. Magic and his power seemed to 'fill up' the same regions of manipulatable spacetime. If it just wasn't that magic was so much more versatile and easy to use, he would have just shelved it as someone else's application of the AT-field. Unfortunately, one's soul was one's power, and one's own identity was one's own reality- that was the truth for beings such as him, and he just couldn't feel the presence of any other.

That left him with the knowledge that spreading his AT-field around would negate magic, but then again it would also erode Ego Borders and start dissolving people. No, he decided; trying to oppose magic wouldn't help him in battle. Why try to deal with magic, when he could already manipulate the soul? Why struggle with the law, when they can assault the will? "We can't fight this as ourselves. That's why we'll be wearing [Masks]."

"There are ways of tracing magic through wands! Masks are useless!"

"Not these ones."

Guiche stopped and stared oddly at Shinji. He spoke the obvious "WHAT masks?" They didn't bring anything with them from the Academy, and Tabitha arrived some time after classes with litte more than the clothes on her back and her staff.

"Guiche-san, I don't know magic. But I know about [Barriers]. Between the heart and the mind, the soul and the body. The ego and the world. When you can remove the barrier between your self and your power..." The light of the moons was pale under the clump of trees. Shinji held up his left hand to a moonbeam passing through the leaves. His pale skin seemed to glow faint silver under the moonlight. Then, slowly, he grasped left little finger with his right hand. There was a series of soft cracks as he broke the joints, one, two, three, and after the third twisted and pulled on the finger. The digit came loose easily, and thick red blood pumped out of the wound.

The young boy clenched his left hand to a fist and raised it to his mouth. He pressed the wound to his tongue. There was hissing noise and the scent of cooking meat. When he lowered the hand, the point of amputated was blackened and cauterized.

"You can reshape the universe."

Tabitha blinked, fascinated. Guiche gulped, as if he might vomit.

Shinji turned his attention to the removed finger. Carefully with the tip of his thumbnails he cut into and peeled off the flesh from the bones. The strips of skin he let drop into the ground, where they shriveled quickly and sank into the soil. The grass that were stained by his flesh and blood grew quickly, lengthening like worms. Shinji took aside one piece of finger-bone and pressed it between his thumb and index finger until it flattened out into a disk. This was the Third Movement in the Suite of Terror, the Lock and the Key. With a flick, he sent it tumbling into the air like a tossed coin. He opened his palm out. What smacked into his palm was a full-sized face mask, bone-white, featureless one the large round eyes and a chin shaped faintly like a bird's beak.

It took him many many years to figure out why the Angels seemed to share two things, if they must wear a physical form: their Core, and this bone mask. It had everything to do with identity. No more perfect disguise can there be than something that fools the universe into thinking something exists where it can't.

First, the Lock.

This he did two more times.

"You... you can't be human." Guiche gulped, backing away as Shinji stood up.

"I am."

The young teen put an Angel's face over his own, and the edges of the bone mask shrunk to clench against the sides of his head. It was a tight but comfortable fit. The others knew that they should be seeing his eyes through the eyeholes, but there was just infinite darkness.

Shinji held out the other masks. Guinche flinched. Tabitha, after some silent consideration, took one. "Why?" she asked, before putting it to her face. She gasped slightly in surprise as it molded to the contours of her head. She looked left. She looked right. She looked up. Nothing had changed.

"I made a promise." said Shinji. "I can't... I won't break promises."

With two dead owl-like gazes directed at him, it was all Guiche could do not to break and run. _'Remember you're a Gramont!'_ he shouted inside his skull. He refused to be showed up as weak and cowardly. At least, not against those who had defeated him before and had no reason to grant him anything but contempt. As he put the mask over his face, his was a louder gasp of surprise. "This is impossible..!" He had to feel the bone over his face to be reminded it really was there. Nothing had changed in his vision. He looked at his clothes. They were still a dead giveaway.

"Think of it giving off an inattention aura..." Shinji added reluctantly. "No one will be paying attention to the unimportant details? The mask is the only thing that they will remember. That they -can- remember." He tapped at the bone over his face. "This disperses the edges of [Ego Borders]. Why bother with illusions when you can deliberately control the impressions they receive?"

His own Ego Border was something far more fluid than most people's own anyway. Let them think it was just a certain form of mind magic. After all, while he had never claimed to be a mage- never did he say that the land he came from had no knowledge of magic.

Guiche pointed his wand at him. "Are you a demon, Ikari?"

"I've been called that, but it doesn't really fit either."

"Then what are you?"

Tabitha gently pushed the wand away with her staff. "Not important." She nodded towards the mansion. "I lead."

"You've got the area-of-effect attacks, Tabitha-san." Shinji agreed. "Um. Could someone conjure for me a cloak?"

Only nobles were allowed to wear capes, but at this point it didn't matter. Guiche sighed and transfigured some leaves. "This isn't finished, Ikari."

Shinji awkwardly tied the black cloth around his neck. Guiche had to magic up a clasp. "Thank you. We'll have plenty of time after this, Guiche-san. But for now..."

"Ahahahaha! Interesting, partner. Very interesting." the sword on his back chortled. Derflinger's voice turned wistful. "I've felt something like that before. Partner! I'm remembering something. There's another way I can help you!"

"Um, how so, Derflinger-san?"

"As a sword I remember a time when I could cut more than just flesh and bone..."

-o-

The woman known for the day as 'Sasaki' hummed as she walked up the stairs leading up to the student dormitory, utterly silent and practically invisible. Her form had shifted to that of someone who walked with authority. Even with her eyes closed and other senses suppressed, her steps were sure; forgotten instincts in her body taking over to navigate. Ah, student nobles and their magics. Once, she feared their power. Now, she knew magic for the fragile, elusive thing that it is. She knew now why magic clung to only such a tiny percentage of the population, and genes had nothing to do with it.

She paused in the hallway before the door leading into Louise's room, and smirked. A little further was Kirche's room and this one she decided to enter, dropping her cloak. Inside she found Kirche Von Zerbst, tied up with rope. Not even in standard shibari knots, just workmanlike loops over elbows and knees that kept her unable to even wriggle out the bed. "Ah." said the Maiden. "Tabitha. Direct as always."

Kirche wasn't gagged, but even if it was already an hour since she was tied up had decided not to scream for help. It was humiliating enough on its own, and while she didn't really much care how others might take advantage on the situation- this was the girl's wing and the one most likely to hear would be Louise. The Valliere wouldn't even take advantage, just take a look, and then leave. Worse yet, this wasn't something she could tease Tabitha over. It was just practical. Her friend had almost no sense of humor, and would have very little hesitation tying her up again in public and proving to everyone just who might be the dominant one in 'that' relationship.

Seeing someone clad all in black, Kirche could only give an apprehensive "...eek!"

No, wait, that a nun's habit. She groaned. She didn't feel like being sermoned tonight.

Seeing that someone take out a thin leaf-shaped double-edged blade - an assassin's knife? She couldn't speak.

Sasaki smiled like a shark would. She slid the flat of her blade down the luscious curves of Kirche's hip and legs. One thing she had to admit about the Germanian standard for nobility, choosing for wealth and beauty rather than just mere magical power did breed true for distracting looks and unflinching self-interest. "Mistress Von Zerbst. You're strange. Most straightforward of us, but hardest to predict." If it was possible to molest someone with a knife, she was doing it. "Running all the way to here from Germania... selfish. But it's something I do envy. The power to decide quickly and without fear."

Kirche gave her a look copied over from Tabitha, the _'youre not making any sense and you're starting to bore me'_, expression that the smaller girl would wear whenever Kirche would be gushing on about her next boytoy.

-o-

Siesta had thought about carrying a knife up to the bedroom, hidden under her robes. Madolen had to convince her not to- it's been tried before. She had others who cared for her, would she jeopardize their efforts now?

But when the time came, Siesta found that she couldn't just surrender herself. Not anymore. She had struggled, and bit, and screamed, and now a bruise marred the right side of her face. Her lip was swelling up a little, and that amused Mott more. It made her look like she was pouting. He laughed as she writhed under his grip on the bed. "See?" he whispered. "I don't need a wand to take care of the likes of you." The dress will stay on. It would make for great contrast with her skin. This commoner... she had great legs. He squeezed her behind as she cried. "In the dark a man is just a man... and a woman is..."

The mansion shook.

"What?"

Siesta elbowed him at the ribs and Mott grunted in pain. She slid out from under him and cowered at the head of the bed.

"You little w-"

The picture window shattered in a shower of sharp glas as someone leapt through into the third floor and the master bedroom. The figure seemed cut from the night. Its head was under a dark hood, with only a strange birdlike bone mask peeking out from the dark. Its long cloak flapped and spread out behind it like the wings of a predatory bird. Or a bat.

"You were warned." It said, with a bony scritching noise as its head spasmed uncontrollably.

"What in... you! Guards! Guards!" Mott scrambled back and reached for his wand on the dresser,

The intruder was wearing white gloves, that in dim of the room with the rest of its outfit seemed to glow. The supple movement drew the eyes as he flicked open his cloak. In the shadow under the cape, were those... stars?

A guard fell out. He was burly man, clad in armor, and was now rolling on the floor in a fetal position, screaming "AAAAAH! AAAAAH!" repeatedly as he clutched at the sides of his head. Terror was carved into his face. What he had seen in that space between worlds would haunt the back of his memory, even if he could never really recall such knowledge.

"Oh? You mean THESE guards?"

There was just the one, actually. Mott's eyes widened, as if the terror of the guard was infectious. His guards might not know magic, but they should have delayed any attacker to give him time to respond. These intruders hadn't even bothered to _kill _the mansion's defenders, they were -that- insignificant. "Not possible...!" Mott turned to the door, but it crashed open and another bird-faced figure stepped through.

This one carried a rose wand held out threateningly. The newcomer saw the guard wailing on the floor and with a flick tossed him outside. The guard was still too taken with mindless terror from whatever he'd seen in that space between worlds to even realize. Fortunately, but out of sight from those above, he was levitated once more in mid-air and landed safely.

"De Gramont? You...? You won't get away with this!"

The intruder who crashed through the window laughed, and there was animal glee in it. "You fool. You really thought it was nothing more than an academy student that surveyed your domicile? Those two boys were convenient, and will be found unharmed in the morning. We do not pointlessly slay those who were of use to us." The figured pulled out the bone mask from his face with a tearing sound. He stepped into the lamp-light. The face under its hood was Mott's own. Pencil mustache and all. "We are everyone."

The mansion quivered again. Plaster fell from the ceiling. A candlestick was knocked over to the floor. No one moved to put out what might set the whole thing on fire.

"We are everywhere." said the one at the door.

With horrified fascination Mott watched flesh flow like liquid, from his face, to that of the strange commoner from earlier with Guiche, to Guiche, to Siesta. "As it is written: _Waste not the water. Master the stone. Purge the flesh_." The figure put the mask back on. "We are the League of Assassins, du Mott. And we do not take lightly slights against our own." The figure turned its head, birdlike in its posture, to look at Siesta. "Sister of the Mask, you do not remember. But it is time to come home. You have run long enough."

"No, no, this has to be a mistake? Oh, someone please-...!" she whimpered. "someone...mister Ikari!"

"Your memories have been tampered with. Your training is incomplete. It is another that knows that name. The maid, Siesta, you replaced her four days ago. She has been found." There was the distinctive rasp of metal upon metal, and the figure brought out a sword from behind him. "You have only my respect, Sister, for escaping the League for so long. And this fool... for his disrespect... there is only death."

Snarling, Mott flicked his wand and a nearby flowervase exploded. Shards of ice shot out towards the sword-weilding figure.

The shards stabbed deep into its chest, but it might as well be trying to stab a shadow.

"Futile." it commented idly. It raised its blade to thrust at the noble's belly- a gut wound, a slow and painful death.

"No, stop!" Siesta screamed.

Blood stained Count Mott's undershirt, but the blade hadn't penetrated through the skin yet. Quizically, and again birdlike, the intruder hopped back to look at Siesta. "Sister wants it to live?"

"Y-yes...?"

"Then it shall live." Mott was kicked in the face.

The noble felt the cartilage of his nose crumble, and pain flashed white-hot through his consciousness. "Gaaah!" He writhed wormlike on the ground, clutching his face. The other masked figure by the door watched impassively. "You... you won't..."

"I believe we will." said that one. His voice, so much like the young de Gramont, sounded so mocking now. When the figure by door spoke again, his voice was that of a young woman. "This can't go unpunished."

"You paid one thousand five hundred gold for something that may not be yours. Why don't we add three thousand to that?"

"Robbing him?"

"Sister wants it to live. I want it to hurt." Mott felt cold steel at his jugular. There was only room in his mind now for naked fear. "I could burn its books, but to waste knowledge is a sin."

"Ugh. Ugh... i'll find you... that bitch..." the noble gurgled while trying to inch towards his wand.

Mott was kicked in the groin. The noble couldn't even scream. "Sister's mercy will not do a second time." His attacker chuckled. "Your life has no value to us. The prophecy is all. Sister is the salvation of this broken world."

As expected, Mott kept a safe with some gold and valuables. What were inside were probably worth five thousand gold. The intruders who laid waste to the mansion's defenders with such ease left the larger baubles. Before vanishing as suddenly and as unexpectedly as they had appeared, it was whispered into Count Mott's ears "Do not let this experience sour you to our service. We might do business again sometime. But beware... waste our time again and we will not be so merciful."

Then with mocking laughter "Go and tell the world about us, if you want. Who would believe you?" Prospective clients, presumably.

And then... they were gone.

Madolen stared down at the broken, glassy-eyed noble that was her employer and sighed. If she wanted to keep her job, she had to clean up and make sure he didn't do anything blatantly suicidal like try and track down those obviously dangerous people.

-o-

"Ahahahahahahaha!" It was strange to hear Shinji Ikari laugh, but they were all laughing now. The stress left so suddenly, leaving only a light-headed cheer as they walked the rest of the way towards the Academy. Even Tabitha was smiling by more than a bit. The only one not showing clear exhilaration was Siesta, who was still confused and more than a little afraid. They were taking the direct road back to the castle, and hopefully Mott wouldn't regain sanity soon enough to send horsemen to the chase. Hah. Out in the open, under the moons? They felt like they could take on an army.

"Ahahaha... seriously? Seriously, Ikari? League of Assassins? What kind of a name is that?" _I can't believe I did that!_; Guiche was thinking. Yet when it was time, he found that there was no hesitation in his legs and only surety in his wand arm. He had been raised to know that commoners were inferior to nobles because of their lack of magic, which was proven by how he blasted past armed guards with little difficulty, but now he knew that age and rank were polite fictions too. Is this why his two deceptively young-looking companions were so savage and quick when driven to action? Decisiveness was powerful weapon in itself.

"It's so stupid it has to be true. I hope the Royal Messenger does try to raise an alarm for something that doesn't exist."

"Um... excuse me... but what just happened?" Seista asked shakily. They were giddy, she was still in shock.

Inside his mind Shinji Ikari screamed _'WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT? That was just MY plan: rush in, kick his teeth in, take Siesta-san and leave.'_

_'Your plan was dumb. MY plan ends up with us some thousand gold richer, inextricably links these young mages to us through the emotional bond of fighting together, and most importantly- how does that young friend of yours put it - we looked __**totally awesome**__ doing it.'_

_'Father. Hate you. Hate you soo much.'_

"Obviously mere academy students wouldn't be so daring just to retrieve just some maid they know from the castle. They're going to be found, along with the maid, unharmed and unconscious in their beds in the morning. They were used as pawns by the" here Shinji let pass a dramatic beat "League of Assassins" another beat "to track down one of their rogue members. The League of Assassins are flesh-dancers, capable of copying anyone down to their body and mind."

"Implausible." said Tabitha.

"But more implausible is for Guiche de Gramont, a Dot Mage and the familiar of Louise La Valliere, to take down a Royal Messenger in his own household within minutes." Guiche shivered. "Mott... wouldn't believe it. He can't believe it, because being attacked by a powerful secret cabal is good for his ego while being taken down by mere academy students... isn't." The devastation Tabitha wreaked on the mansion was impressive. Mott might try to pass it off as his work, fighting off the shadowy figures.

"That was a impressive trick, melting his ice daggers before they hit me, Tabitha-san."

"Better." the girl replied. Mott could only add Water - Water - Wind at best, while she could utilize that and Water - Wind - Wind too.

"Fine, so Tabitha can knock us out and drop us off. But what about when the interrogators come around?" It didn't matter to him whether or not Mott may have deserved what happened, what was done was done, and it felt good to pay back some of the insults Mott had directed against his family. For too long Mott had taken advantage of that a lower-ranked military noble couldn't do anything against a court noble, at least without harsh consequences for his own livelihood.

"I could edit your memory, if you want." Shinji added gently.

Guiche boggled. "Wait, what? You can -do- that? What ARE you, really?"

"Angel." said Tabitha.

All good cheer instantly vanished from Shinji's face. He understood the connotations of that. "No."

Guiche looked piercingly towards Siesta, who blushed at the attention and looked down. The events of the day felt more like the nightmare now, and here among her rescuers, was the true dream. Nobles going so far as to fight a poweful court noble just for her? It shook all her preconceptions about the inherest assholishness of the nobility. They were just people too. From Guiche, to Tabitha, and the one to whom she owed her all... they were warriors. She walked behind them, warrmed by just being able to walk in their shadow. She was unworthy, but if they valued her presence enough... then she was more than happy to remain among their number.

Guiche looked away, not knowing why he too blushed. "Anyway, I doubt you're a demon. Even if you're being so _mercenary _about it..."

"Hey, we share alike a thousand gold each." Even Siesta. It would one thousand five hundred for the maid later, since Shinji didn't feel any need for money and giving up half for deliberately holding back and knowing she would suffer until nightfall. It would be too soon to insist though- Siesta was barely convinced into accepting her flat share of the loot in the first place. "Could this wait until tomorrow? I'm going to have to deal with my master's scolding... "

Guiche laughed. "Only someone like you would be more afraid of that."

"Guiche-san."

"Hm? What?"

"I'm sorry for dragging you into this. You're a good brave person after all."

"It's all right, Ikari. It was my fault for blaming you for something I did." The bird-mask still hung on a loop of rope off his belt. Guiche wasn't sure if he could trust that as long as it was on his person, he might as well not exist to other people until he spoke directly to them, but Ikari's weirdness so far had been reliable. Magical artifacts however Should Not Be That Easy To Make. He flicked a look at the familiar's left hand. The young teen had five fingers again on that hand. Whatever Shinji Ikari was, he was clearly just pretending to be a human being. He needed to write some letters to his father, and get him to make contact with the Church. Familiar animals were one thing, but this was unnatural on a completely different level.

Tabitha had already sent her report to Gallia of the events last week, as always concise but honest, and was given orders to interact more with this strange new familiar. If this boy could fight her to a standstill, it was interesting to the King. She took no pleasure from having helped Siesta, but the combat was satisfying in its own way. She glanced aside. Perhaps a rematch was in order?

-o-

Invisible among the trees, a young man watched the four walking on the open road. His briefing covered their combat potential, even while still in their formative years. He'd observed their assault on the Mott mansion and was not impressed with deafting relatively unskilled and unwary enemies. That they did act quickly in a textbook raid was something he liked. Now, however, their easy victory made them unwary.

Their magic was interesting. He thought of the world he came from, and there no one used wands. Wands required such things as crystals, ancient wood, the body parts of magical creatures. In world of Death-Fog the only magical creatures left that could serve as magical foci for the construction of wands were the humans themselves. They were instead sought and harvested by beings Outside for those qualities. He felt his lips twitch under his mask. The contrast between this world and his, it was so sharp that they balanced each other out in poetic justice.

_"Duality? Yes, it's everywhere. Male and female. Yin and Yang. Particle and antiparticle. Good cop, bad cop. Nothing complicated about this._" he heard telepathically. "_Just go in there and make your case. Avoid combat if possible_."

"I comply."

First impressions mattered. This needed to be flashy and attention-grabbing. Roland's thermoptic camoflage shimmered.

A few minutes later, the little band of marauders stopped as someone appeared out of thin air in the road directly in front of them. A glowing spell circle spun around Roland's feet. Dimly, he recalled planning arguments that it would perhaps be better if his introduction involved a blue box. He took a deep breath and faced four legends yet in the making. "Travelers." he said with a courtly bow. "I have a message you need to hear."

Siesta squinted at him, puzzled and slightly afraid. Shinji, frowning, stepped back and slightly to guard her. Tabitha moved slightly in front ready to attack or defend, while Guiche quickly drew his rose wand.

"I am not here to fight." he said, while slowly raising both hands. "I am Roland, and I carry a warning from the future."

"... we don't have the time for this idiocy." Guiche sighed. "Look, just go away, crazy person. We don't have money."

"Uh... you do, but that's not important. Please, listen. Sir... I... look." Roland very carefully moved his hands, noting the same wary movement of Tabitha's staff. He began to undo the seals for his helmet. "Guiche de Gramont. -You- are my father."

Under the mask was a face very similar to Guiche's own. However, just a short while ago, the noble did see someone do some strangeness with faces. He'd just finished participating in a glorious fake-out. "N-no. That's not true. That's impossible!"

"Oh my gods." Shinji made a choking sound. "Eheh. Actually... he might be telling the truth. Something like this has happened to me before." He imperceptibly extended his sense of self and noted that, yes, this person was a like a whorl in the fabric of spacetime.

Guiche whirled around quickly and pointed his rose at the shorter teen's face as he might rub that face out. "No. No more of your madness, Ikari! We are going back to the castle. We are going each to our separate beds. We are all going to sleep. And when we wake up- things will be normal again. Do you hear me? NORMAL!"

Distant laughter drifted at the back of Roland's mind._ 'Oh, right. I forgot how long your father clung to his delusions. But once he finally shed them, only then could he become unshakable.'_

Seista frowned at this and rubbed at the sides of her head.

"This is -important-. I only have a limited window into this timeplane." Roland continued firmly. "You must listen." He bowed slightly at Shinji. "You... have some way of verifying this, I was told. We know about DNA."

"Huh. How far in the future... no, probably shouldn't ask." Shinji scratched at the back of his head. "But it's not like Guiche-san will take my word for it anyway."

Guiche looked crestfallen. "There is no way to salvage this night from weirdness. Do whatever you want, fools. I don't care anymore."

Shinji asked for strands of hair from each, and ate them. He looked thoughtful for a minute or so. "Yep. He's your kid all right, Guiche-san. I won't know who the mother is until I can more samples from other people."

And then Guiche's hands was at his throat. "THAT DOESN'T PROVE ANYTHING!" the young noble screamed while shaking him roughly. Guiche did not understand DNA, and likely wouldn't even believe if it was explained.

Roland looked resigned. This was completely not what he'd been expecting. "I have further proof." He took out a long piece of card from the side of his belt. He showed them the intricate designs of the border and a picture of a mole in the center. He then passed the card over the large red gem over his belt buckle.

There were several plinking noises and a strange sourceless voice announced "[Familiar Set: VERTHANDI]. The card flared bright and vanished. "[Attack Run: COPY FORM]"

A spell circle appeared in front of them, and from the ground up formed a golden, female-shaped golem. It was very much like the bronze golems that Guiche could craft, only slightly larger and armed with a shining silver lance. There were certain other details missing from Guiche's beginner attempts- such as conjured cloth and intricate runic carvings on the armor, and large white wings on its back; idly flapping and fully-functional. Its feet were standing en pointe but not actually touching the ground.

Guiche gulped. The Gramont family had a tradition of being Earth mages, and their conjured fighting golems were uniquely crafted. Only a Gramont knew the precise combinations to make a Gramont golem. What Guiche, just a Dot Mage, possessed was a fairly advanced spell compared to what was taught in the Academy. Keyed as it was to the Gramont bloodline, by default he was stacking Earth - Earth, though the actual combat potential was highly dependent on his own skill and willpower.

"Command your Walkure, father." said Roland. Guiche hesitantly reached out with his wand, and made a small gesture. The floating Valkyrie golem immediately smacked Shinji on the head with its its lance.

"Mister Ikari!" Siesta gasped and was quickly bending down to help her savior. She glared, not at Guiche, but at the stranger in their midst.

Woozily, the boy mumbled "...a Kamen Rider... here? no, wait. no scarf, no motorcyle. lame." He blinked and awareness returned to his expression. "A Load Runner, here?" He looked aside to see Gendo Ikari give a shrug, meaning _'I had nothing to do with it this time'._

"Hear." Tabitha said softly.

Guiche sighed and slumped his shoulders. "I'm not fully convinced, but... oh, what the hell. Say what you have to say, then go away." He was just seventeen years old. No way would he even entertain the concept of a son nearly as old as he was.

Roland coughed. "I can't go into specific details, but there are a prophecies.

To the West, where the mountains fly  
Find there the Third Child of sunrise  
Find there the Third Child of sunset  
And opens the Vault of the World  
And the magic goes away  
And the creatures all return to the sea  
And the skies turn heavy and red  
The Third Child does not die  
The Third Child will not die  
And the Void howls  
Feasts the Star-Hungry

is one of them." said Roland. "If you go to Romalia, it is in their archives." Behind his bland look however, it was less of a prophecy than a how-to-guide. God-damned patterns of history; someone monitoring from the back of his mind groaned.

"... and?" Guiche asked archly. "If you're from the future, explain what happens."

Roland looked up at the moons. He thought briefly of a world filled with poisonous hot fog and whose lands ran molten. A world where fire itself drowns. "The magic goes away." he whispered.

He gestured to Shinji. "The [Light of the Soul] and the [Legacy of Magic] is leading to an acceleration of the [Shaping]. While none of this is completely your fault, each use of your power worsens the situation." He then looked to Guiche. "While nations of this world continue their petty wars, you must breach the Shaitan's Gate, father, in the lands where the Alfar lie. The Elves call their magic Trueborn, because it doesn't harm the world. The magic must heal, or it will go away." He then looked to Tabitha. "The death of the world is not a game. The power of Void pulls at the Void. What waits in the Void is the [Silence]."

Guiche blinked. "... that was, as expected from prophecies, completely unhelpful." He understood practically none of [That].

Roland smiled sheepishly. "These will be clear in the proper time, I assure you."

_'That should be enough to delay them for a while. Can't tell too much of the truth, after all, or it might not happen. I'm almost done here.'_

Siesta was still staring intensely at him. She tugged weakly at Shinji's arm. "Um... Mister Ikari?" The maid pushed aside her fear, after what happened if she could help in some small way she shouldn't shirk from it. "... I can hear someone! She's saying... that he" pointing to their accoster "has delayed you long enough."

_'Suddenly I'm discerning a flaw in this plan_.' Roland thought, panicked.

_'Shit. I thought she only had proximity sense.'_

"Eh?" Shinji looked at her, and then his eyes went unfocused for a moment. "Louise...? My master is in danger!" His head then slapped back as a beam shot caught him right between the eyes.

"Ow." said the boy, from the ground.

_'Basically, Run.'_

Roland ran for it, engaging themoptic cloak before anyone could react. Attacking them would just be pointless macho posturing and get his ass kicked - twice - by them and then his teacher. He was not born of a culture of chivalry, but it was still galling to his pride. He just hoped that this worked. Those born to those knightly traditions just can't resist a chivalric quest.

-o-

Louise was annoyed. She was not expressing it by throwing a tantrum or pacing around like a caged animal. Her familiar was late! She hadn't insisted on knowing why, since so far he'd shown that he had good reasons behind his actions. Now, however for all she knew he was just out carousing with Guiche out night at the town. Getting drunk in bars. Getting.. uh, attention from ladies of ill virtue! How dare he abuse her trust?

Louise seethed. But it was a cold fury. She lay flat on her bed, staring up, carefully feeding the burning in her heart. She had no cause to worry, and thus only reason to be angry.

There was knocking at the door, and she bit her tongue. Let him sleep outside!

"Louise? It's Kirche. Let's talk."

_'Hm? What's that Von Zerbst woman up to now?' _Louise considered ignoring her, and huffed. She was bored. She couldn't concentrate on her schoolwork anyway. She opened the door to see a perturbed-looking Kirche.

"May I come in?"

"Yeah, sure." Stranger and stranger, Kirche wasn't usually so polite. The tall, dark-skinned woman stepped in and aside to allow someone else to enter. This one; Louise could only describe as... dark. Black clothes, black hair, contrasting with the corpse-paleness of the face. Lethality drifted off her in waves, as if the air itself was being cut to shreds in her passing. Louise's eyes were drawn to the blood-red gem clasp on her collar.

"Greetings, Third Child of the Valliere Family. I am Sasaki, Matriarch of the House of Sasaki and ward of the Missionaria. By order of the Church of Brimir, might we speak?" she said with a formal bow.

Louise stiffened up and bowed in return. "Um... yes. Please come in." This didn't sound good. As a noble child, she had some training in the formal rules of conduct, but this sounded heavy. There was nowhere else to sit in the room other than the chair on her study desk and her bed. Gah. Louise bit her lip trying to think of the protocol for this. A guest should take the chair, but then she'd have to share her bed with Kirche.

She cast a questioning look at Kirche, as if to ask _'what did you get me into?'_

Kirche just shrugged. "Hey, I'm just here as a witness."

"A witness for what?"

"The Summoning Ritual is a sacred rite. Thus it falls to the Church that only we may renegotiate the contract." the woman known as Sasaki said evenly. She nodded at the shocked look on Louise's face and the glee on Kirche's. **_Rub al Khali. Ikari. Sasaki_**. Definitely foreign. Faking it was child's play for those who spent decades preparing a haunt into what was. "My credentials."

Louise accepted the scroll and unrolled the parchment. There was the symbol of the church and stamped in gold foil were the royal seals of Romalia and Tristania. It did make sense. The thought of being severed from her familiar however immidiately numbed her.

The visitor smiled thinly at the obvious horror in Louise's face. "But we won't be discussing that here. Mistress Von Zerbst is here as a witness for another thing entirely." She began counting down in her mind.

Kirche blinked. "Uh- what?"

"A kidnapping." said 'Sasaki'.

She had but to point to the far wall and it burst apart. The girls eek'ed from the cloud of dust and debris. A strong wind blew through the bedroom, pulling out the smoke. Louise coughed and tried to get her bearings, only to be knocked out from a palm chop to the back of the head.

"I enjoyed that bit too much." She stared down at Louise in her ams. The girl was a third child too. "Louise Le Blanc. You're pink, but you're no Lina Inverse."

She then turned around to see Kirche already having drawn her wand. Indecision passed across the the red-haired young woman's face for a moment, to be replaced with feral amusement.

'Sasaki' tilted her head to the side. "Although... the Ardent Flame does a good enough Naga impression?"

"I don't really care about whatever your grudge is against little Louise, but you picked wrong if you think I'm just going to stand aside!" Kirche grinned fiercely and then readied to set everything on fire.

"Understood. It's not like you want to be accused of being a conspirator in this crime?" The moment of confusion was enough, as the woman then flicked her wrist, and something metallic latched onto Kirche's cheek. Kirche screamed as the thumb-sized device set her nerves on fire. 'Sasaki' stared approvingly down her.

Kirche was stil twitching, but conscious. Her eyes burned.

The strange woman pulled out her rapier, scabbard and all, and pointed out the open wall. The silvery metal of basket hilt, flowed thickening out, curving down the handle. The end of the scabbard hollowed out. There was a bright flash, a short-lived bolt off into the night.

'Sasaki' nodded, satisfied, and slapped the sword back to her hip. She took out a Tarot-sized card. She passed it over the the red gem on her collar, and light from within scanned the dense arcane patterns on the card. "[Mode Engage: AMPLIFICATION.]" a machine voice announced. All around the castle, small devices discreetly set into the walls began to do interesting things with ambient magic. If the noises hadn't roused most of the Academy by now, the vibrations through the walls as unto an earthquake surely would. She then opened her mouth and announced

"**FOUQUET THE CRUMBLING SAND WAS HERE! I HAVE TAKEN LOUISE LA VALLIERE! BRING TO ME THE STAFF OF DESTRUCTION, OR YOUR PRECIOUS USER OF VOID DIES BY THE MORN!**

**I AM FOUQUET THE CRUMBLING SAND!**"

Miss Longueville had planned to break in with a giant golem, and at this point was checking the walls again. The sound seemed to spring straight out of the stone in front of her. "... oh that -bitch-." she hissed.

It was all too late. Heading up to Louise's room, there was only an injured Kirche and a possibly incriminating scroll.

-o-

There was once a well. It only seemed to be infinitely deep. Below it was a vast underground cavern lit only by a single beam of light shining straight down the well. Sourceless freezing-cold waters flowed through this cavern, and reflecting off that single spot of light were shifting faces upon the mist.

Floating face-up on this dark surging river, somehow staying in place at the center of the waters revealed by the light leaking from above, was a young teenager with orange-red hair in a red bodysuit. She opened her eyes suddenly and sat up upon the flowing surface. A plaintive little whisper drifted from above.

"... mama?"

Asuka threw her arms aside and the waters parted. "You assholes. You total assholes! What have you done?"

-o-

And then it was all Headmaster Osmond's headache.

-o-

* * *

Thought about adding even more obvious cosmology into this story, but it's not really touched up that much in the light novels. Is there any basis to the worship of Brimir, since (by reading ahead) we know that he did actually live and die? One thing I'd like to point out is that the name of the Europe-like landmass in ZnT is _**Hel**_keginia and there is a holiday devoted to Surtur. There's a lot of references to traditional antagonists in myth seen more favorably- Jormungand armor, for one. Although... Guiche has named his familiar Verdandi, which means the Norns are still seen well.

So, what about the 'demons' that Brimir supposedly defeated? From research given to me, it seems as if there was a third more technologically advanced faction during Brimir's time. Can't be magitech too much since stuff summoned out from the early 20th century are beyond understanding in the setting. Obviously this story is leading to something being folded into NGE cosmology, but here's my first major departure regarding light not canon. Brimir wasn't six thousand years ago, but **six hundred**. Since then the power of Void seems to have become available to the world. The Founder's Artifacts are of pretty sophisticated make- the music box is rather hard to explain behind six thousand years of history. In that time, man went from chipping flint to the moon.

Brimir... may not be a name. It's a **_title. _**

Apologies if this is going off a re-tread of the storyline, but worry not. The story will return to the familiar scenes in the light novels and meddle with the snowballing effect. For now, a reminder of personal responsibility. For all his power, there are some things that Shinji Ikari can't fix with AT field hax. Even as a replacement main character he can't go around shoving his weight and problems get solved one after the other, all falling into place. The rest of the cast are the ones who can and must bear the problems their world. They're the ones who can suffer or benefit from it, after all.

Magic is a force in the world. But the question must be asked: Why Magic? The summoning ritual involving pulling someone from another world, and so over there: Why NOT Magic?


	6. Chapter 6: Restarting

Points of Familiarity

chapter five

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The teachers had to order the students back to their beds. It was sort of fortunate that this happened late at night, as keeping them separate cut down on the potential mischief. Then they too were made to retire to their rooms. There was nothing to be gained by raising more fuss, the Headmaster said. The little group arrived to deserted halls. Guiche looked longingly towards the stairs heading east, and then the dormitories. The journey back left him cold, tired, every joint as if aflame, and the night wasn't done yet. He looked aside to his companions. Tabitha looked as unperturbed as ever, though her heavier breaths betrayed the fatigue that easily came to her her small frame. On the other side of him, and walking a few paces behind, Siesta followed still in numb shock.

Shinji strode ahead, but they knew that whatever cunning had guided them through the past few hours was now gone. The familiar stalked with his left fist encased in ever-burning black-green flame. Guiche knew better than to try and get in the way of a 'person' just a short bit removed from a rabid animal. Tabitha seemed content to just go with the flow, and of course the maid couldn't take the lead. Guiche gave them back a frantic look that said _'Just what the hell do you expect me to do?'_

Headmaster Osmond was unsurprised when Shinji Ikari barged into his office. Waiting were Mister Colbert and Miss Longueville. Among all the staff, only these two could the Headmaster count on being discreet and useful. Kirche was there too, who sat up eagerly when she saw who'd arrived. The boy just oozed malevolence.

_'Ikari? Hello? Magic bad, remember?'_ voices vainly echoed in his skull._ 'What is this? It's like the Berserker state, but with all higher brain functions still engaged._'

"What. Happened." Shinji hissed.

Colbert looked at the flames still bursting out of the familiar runes, then nodded to the Headmaster. "Please calm down, Mister Ikari. We assure you, we are doing everything we can to ensure Miss Valliere comes to no harm."

Guiche just groaned. That wasn't going to work. Their little escapade had already shown that the boy, whatever he was, had no innate respect for the powers or authority of the nobility. Carefully he moved to the front. "That may be, but that doesn't answer the question."

"It's got to be a mistake." Kirche said with a pout. "Louise? Why would anyone think she uses the Holy Power of the Founder himself?"

"Wait, what?"

Old Osmond nodded to Colbert, who explained about the events less than thirty minutes past. The Mage Thief Fouquet's message about Louise and the Staff of Destruction, which was backed by Louise's testimony. He finished off with "Don't worry. We've already sent word ahead and the palace's elite will deal with this matter personally. Fouquet is a poweful mage, but he's stepped too far this time. Holding an innocent student hostage!" and here a strange fervent gleam shone from his eyes. "That's unforgivable!"

Miss Longueville's tone was much more calming. "From Miss Von Zerbst's testimony, Miss Valliere wasn't harmed during her abduction. As long as we don't provoke the kidnapper, the girl should stay that way."

Questions whirled around Guiche's head. He looked aside towards Shinji, and the boy stood rock-still with unreasoning fury in his eyes. The young noble decided to deal with that weirdness later. He felt like he had to claw at the edges of reason, as the mad mysteries just kept on piling on this one night. He could go mad! Ahh! He grit his teeth and wished to lie down in the lap of some pretty lass and just sleep. Oh Founder, he could... he shut his eyes and considered just not asking. Just turning around and ignoring everything until morning. He had no personal attachment to Louise, and he'd already more than fulfilled the debt of honor with helping out with that whole mess with the maid. He was fully within his rights to say - screw this. Let someone else deal with it.

Only two things held him back. The first was sheer curiosity. Like it or not, this was exciting and exhilerating in an adventure he'd never expected to experience while at school. Only now was the horror creeping in of what he'd just done back at Mott's estate, and the possible consequences that might for his family if Ikari's little scheme falls flat. But having already done that, he couldn't see any possible way things could get much worse by diving into even greater mix-ups. The worst he could lose was his life, but with his blood still roused he felt fully a Gramont of war. This was a chivalric quest, he could but feel the press of destiny on his back. He knew he wasn't as brave or powerful as his brothers but everything that made him a noble, a son of a warrior line, urged him not to look away from this chance. He'd spend the rest of his life regretting it.

The other was, ironically, fear. To turn away now would be rational, but there were those who'd sneer at him anyway for cowardice. He'd seen the wrath of Tabitha and Shinji, and to leave their company now would be to be discarded as their equal, their comrade, and he could use association with people of such power.

Guiche took a deep breath. "So... there are three important questions here. First, who is this Fouquet? Second, Louise- Does she really have the power of Void? Third, what is this Staff of Destruction? Are you going to surrender it for ransom?" He blinked. "Uh. There are four- four important questions here."

Old Osmond hummed approvingly. Often times, leadership was really nothing more than keeping one's head in a crisis. "Well, we do not exactly know if this is the work of Fouquet, since this is very much different from the thief's usual methods. We know that the kidnapper is a woman, which is too obvious... an accomplice, perhaps?"

Miss Longueville bit her lip. "But is Fouquet really a single person at all? What is really known about... him?"

Colbert, eager to show off his knowledge to beautiful Miss Longueville; and not having noticed how their little time together had bored her, launched into "Not much is actually known. No one had ever seen Fouquet's appearance up close. Nobody even knos for sure whether he was a man or a woman. All that we know is that Fouquet was an earth mage of at least Triangle class, that he leaves insulting notes, such as "I got your treasure. –-Fouquet the Crumbling Earth" at every robbery scene, and that he prefers treasures and artifacts of great magical power.

When Fouquet heard that a noble in the North had a jeweled crown, he went all the way there to steal it. When Fouquet heard that a noble in the South had a staff bestowed by the king as a family treasure, he broke through walls to steal it. In the East, none of the best pearl rings by the artisans of the White Islands remained in any mansion. Fouquet also eagerly took possession of a priceless bottle of well-aged wine from a winery in the West! The thief, it seems, is everywhere!

Fouquet's tactics range from stealthy infiltration to outright breaking in. The national bank had been attacked in broad daylight, and houses were silently frequented in the depth of night. In any case, Fouquet's tactics simply left the royal mage guards in the dust." he said with even greater volume, noting the secretary's interest. "Fouquet is identified only by the use of alchemy to enter targeted rooms, turning doors and walls to dirt and sand, then walking through the gaping holes. Nobles, not being stupid, had tried to magically "solidify" everything around their treasure in an attempt to stop the alchemy, but Fouquet's magic was simply too strong, nullifying everything, fortified or not, into dirt.

If Fouquet decided on breaking the way in, a 30-mail tall dirt golem was used. Tossing aside mage guards and shattering castle walls, it let him boldly take prizes in broad daylight! Truly, a poweful Earth mage. It would be very difficult to bring him in."

"No one knows if Fouquet is male or female?" Shinji whispered. "And yet you're all assuming she is male. I think I'm beginning to understand Fouquet's motivation a little."

Miss Longueville gulped. "And what makes you think Fouquet is a woman? W-why would a woman choose to be a thief, of all the silly things?"

Shinji shrugged. "I don't know. If Fouquet was a man, then he would seek out to confound his pursuers at every turn. The hunt is the pleasure. Advance warning might be given. But Fouquet to focus more on the objects themselves, the goal is more important than drawing attention and proving others as fools. It's... practical." He nodded. "This doesn't -feel- like the work of someone like that."

Guiche stared at him. "And you're sure about this, why?"

"I am... somewhat familiar... with the ways of the phantom thief." Shinji replied evenly.

Kirche 'ooh'ed, intrigued. Guiche palmed his face.

"And the creepy revelations just keep on multiplying..." _'Shut up, you idiot. You're implicating us from earlier. I should never have listened to your stupidly violent plan.'_ He looked to the left from the edge of his palm. Siesta stood by the door, no one bothering to dismiss her. The maid kept her eyes downcast, hoping to remain overlooked. _'It's not like that maid's a virgin. Is she? It wouldn't have harmed her too much to delay a few days.'_

Seriously, he must have been mad to agree. Ikari's priorities, so much like a commoner's, was so awry. Except now, of course, but it's become even more blatantly suicidal. He didn't even need to say it- everyone in that room silently knew the course of action demanded of them. Out there in the dark, with full force of Ikari's inhuman aura, it was so easy to believe. Here, he was but a weak student mage again, and the Headmaster was a crafty old warhorse- no way he'd be fooled by something so juvenile.

Oh Founder he was sunk. His knees we shaking, and he was the slightest prod from collapsing and begging.

"Void." Tabitha noted.

The girl stood on Shinji's left, and strangely it the flames off the runes had slackened at her approach. She was a calming influence. Or she inspired dread. Either way, it was her presence that inclined Shinji to be more reasonable and aware, even in his imposed goal-oriented state.

Kirche nodded firmly. "Indeed! Whoever this Fouquet it, he... or she... must be mistaken. There's no way Louise the Zero can use the power of Void! Is that really true?"

Colbert shrugged. "There is some... evidence... to suggest that, yes." He nodded towards Shinji. "The familiar runes on your hand... they're like what was written of the Founder's own familiar- Gandalfr. So-called the Left Hand of God." Colbert had already gathered the relevant material, and showed the page to the curious students.

"This Founder... he's the one you call God, right?" Shinji asked with a frown. "That... makes some sense."

"Oh? Do you know something of this already? "

"Only the power of a god could..." Shinji chuckled darkly and shook his head. "That doesn't matter. Someone either believes it or wants you people to believe it."

Old Osmond idly took up the scroll left behind at the scene. From all indications, it was genuine. Romalia -should- know, above all others, if someone did possess the Holy Power. Yet to do this was most tactless to the extreme. He looked towards Colbert, who raised his hands in panic.

"I-I didn't tell anyone, I swear! It was just speculation on my part so far, and I did come to you first, sir. Without convincing proof, there was no reason for me to discuss it with anyone."

"It's the first I've heard of this." Miss Longueville said.

"Hmm. Well someone must have overheard... or someone knew ahead of time this would happen." He set aside the scroll. "This is most troublesome."

The three teens shared a look; that was immaterial. The strange encounter back at the road didn't require any leak. This shared comprehension wasn't missed by Old Osmond and Miss Longueville. The Headmaster gave a thoughtful 'hmm' and stroked his beard. Beads of perspiration slid down Guiche's cheek. The young mage practically screamed out guilt, but of what the old man wasn't sure. Not Louise's abduction, there were no telltale signs whenever that was mentioned.

"I must ask that you leave this to us. A crime as serious as this is beyond the reach of students. Unkind as it may sound, you're just going to get in the way."

As expected, Shinji bristled. A slight snarl from his lips was full roaring rage from anyone else. "The only reason I'm not ripping open that vault of yours, sir, is that I don't know what this 'Staff of Destruction' looks like. My master was taken, so I have to go and get her back. I don't think you have any authority to stop me from doing this."

Miss Longueville smirked. "Indeed. A familiar's duty is to protect his master even at the cost of his own life. So... where were you? It's convenient isn't it, that she's taken so easily in the first place."

"Tied up and unconscious." the lie smoothly slid from the boy's lips. "I was out on an errand with her permission, but we were... interrupted. Tabitha-san found us just recently."

The blue-haired girl nodded and produced a piece of paper with a crude map. "Rescue." she said. "Room. After classes."

Guiche had to force himself not to look around and bit back a whistle from his lips. Chivalry demanded honor, honesty, and valor- but the life of a noble was also one of false faces and intrigue. He had to admire such dedication and for his own survival resolved to do no less.

"If it's true... it's bad enough that it's a student of the academy, is the Staff of Destruction that powerful?" Miss Longueville asked.

"Mmmhmm." Old Osmond nodded. "The Staff was given to me, some thirty years ago. I was saved by a man carrying the Staff from a three-headed dragon. Sadly, he was already wounded far beyond even my ability to heal. Knowing he was near death... yet he still used the last of his strength to save a stranger. In respect to his memory, I took the Staff here to the Academy rather than let it be used by petty nobles in their conflicts.

I don't know what the Staff of Destruction precisely -is-, but it is very powerful. To destroy a three-headed dragon in one hit. It is a terrible weapon."

"It's not worth the life of one of our students." Colbert said uncommonly firmly.

"True or not, a user of Void can't be risked." Miss Longueville added. Colbert all but beamed at her support. "Headmaster, you must give up the Staff of Destruction."

"Yes, of course." Old Osmond then looked to the gathered teens. "As for you children..."

"Volunteering." said Tabitha.

Guiche sighed and clutched at his head before nodding. "With all due respect, if you don't let us go, we're likely to sneak out anyway." He gestured aside to Shinji. "Someone has to keep him from getting too crazy." He looked further back towards to Siesta, who eep'ed at his notice. "I've got a feeling we might be... useful."

"This is too dangerous. Headmaster, you can't allow this." Colbert mustered. "It's bad enough that one student is at risk, we can't add two more."

Old Osmond considered Miss Longueville instead. "Are you sure about this, Miss Longueville? You don't -have- to take part in it. The thought of harm coming to a flower like you... ah! These old bones can't take any more tragedy."

"Your... concern... is appreciated, sir. But I need to see the end of this. You know I'm not that bad of a mage, myself." Compared to Colbert's academic demeanor, she was the very figure of calm competence. She fully expected to be pulling the weight in this 'negotiation'. She looked towards Shinji and felt a tingle run up her spine. The little mages would be easy to handle, Colbert with his obvious infantuation even more so, but the familiar was the unknown. If he was willing to go so far for a mere maid though, it was likely he cared little for the actual letters of law.

What happens to La Valliere was none of her business. She planned on grabbing the Staff and getting out. She had no desire to engage in any pointless conflicts. "However, I do say that it might be too much for students to handle." She adjusted her glasses and glared at them. "Good intentions won't protect from being expulsion. If you don't care about your own safety, are you prepared to risk -that- even if nothing happens? Disobedience must be punished!"

Guiche gulped. Then he remembered that he already risked prison anyway. It was like a game, he supposed, but the players didn't know they were playing by different rules. Audacity now, ever audacity. _'If I stop, I burn.'_

"We won't get in the way! I promise!" Kirche eagerly put in. "La Valliere isn't really a friend, but if it would help dear Shinji, then count me in!"

Old Osmond tugged at his beard. While it was true that he was obligated to wait for an official response, he knew what that would be. They would just keep on delaying even more, trying to verify first if Louise really was a user of Void, comparing her with the worth of the Staff he'd protected over thirty years... a lot of hemming and hawwing while everyone other than the poor girl's parents tried to leverage this to their benefit. Much disturbance to the school, and a young girl's life would be ended or dominated by the trauma of the experience.

"You all have my permission, then." he said, ignoring Colbert's last weak protests. "The Staff of Destruction... how sad. It was never its power that was dangerous. The destruction it leaves in its wake is nothing compared to men that lust for power and glory." He sighed and looked to his thumb, where Motsognir his little familiar mouse was gently nibbling to reassure its master.

The vault back at Mott's estate was really not much more than a large steel box set into a wall. The Academy's famed treasury was a room to itself. Much to the disappointment of everyone, the inside looked much more like an old storehouse than a hoard. Here were dangerous magical items and assorted valuables confiscated from the students. Wealth in the form of coins and gems were in a smaller vault downstairs, near the Treasurer's Office. The bulk of the Academy's finances existed, like most institutions, in the form of ledgers in the care of banks.

Colbert looked around with awe, recognizing that here was the accumulated history of hundreds of years since the Academy's founding. Armor of outdated style gleamed in their stands, still proudly bearing battle scars. Sculpture, in gold and marble, were shoved together in a corner. Most of these were busts of past headmasters, though some were nymphs in the Classical style (these elicited a scornful snort from Kirche, as she crossed her arms over her own more impressive bust). Books were there aplenty of course, possibly containing knowledge too dangerous to be contained even in the Library's Restricted Section. Colbert was entranced instantly and seemed to float towards them like a moth to the flame.

"Ahem."

Miss Longueville of course had stuck to the business at hand. All around were nothing but baubles. The others were standing around a strange wooden box with red writing on them. "Thirty years... oh my gods. It makes sense."

"It appears Old Osmond lied. There wasn't a Staff of Destruction. There were Staves of Destruction." The secretary then stared at Shinji. "You recognize them?"

_'This means something.'_ the boy thought, the confusion temporarily dulling the urgency of his mission. _'These things aren't worth Louise. Not if those people have anything to do with this.'_ He smirked slightly. "Smart old man. These things aren't enough to change anything, but could still make a lot of trouble."

Guiche warily reached out to touch the staves, then drew back. Kirche eagerly plucked one up and frowned. "It's more like a cane, isn't it?" she said with a sniff. Letting it rest on the ground, the weapon only reached up to a little above her waist.

"Fouquet only asked for -the- Staff of Destruction, didn't he?" Guiche asked. "We could just take one, and not as much harm done."

"Somehow I don't think it would be that easy to fool Fouquet." Miss Longueville replied dryly.

Siesta was left outside, alone, staring at the door. She'd changed back into a maid's uniform.

Siesta wanted to laugh. To laugh and laugh until her heart burst.

In heading back to the castle, her thoughts were consumed by just how she could possibly express her appreciation. That sad young warrior, she was prepared to offer him everything. She felt stained by what Mott had done however. She'd been purchased for her mere flesh, and offering that again- it would be an insult. She had no idea how to deal with the two nobles, but they profited from the deed anyway. She didn't know them. Only one person was directly responsible for her salvation.

Her dignity could be taken from her, but her heart ony she could give. She wanted to keep him from hurting anymore. Forever.

And then, whatever meager plans she had was shoved aside in a crisis eclipsing her own.

The light within the carriage was a practical Pilot's Light set into the roof, one of those glowing crystals that eventually had to be thrown away. Until then, the light provided was steady and cool. Guiche, Tabitha and Kirche sat together, while facing them were Miss Longueville and Siesta. There was a wide space between the mage and the maid. The carriage wheels creaked, the only sound to fill the self-absorbed silence. Outside were Colbert and Shinji.

The long locked box containing the Staff of Destruction was on the floor.

She looked up slightly and met Guiche's eyes. There was a strange tingle of familiarity, and they both looked away. Siesta couldn't even begin to pretend why a noble would be ill at ease, but she felt that they both did not belong here. In her case, the only powerless one in the group; maybe because he was a man surrounded by moody women? It couldn't be that he was irritated at Shinji for her sake; for that would involve sympathy and that she'd never expect from any noble. Specially not an avowed womanizer as Guiche.

When Shinji said "She comes with us." Siesta knew that it wasn't because she was trusted as a friend and ally, but because by sheer chance she had some ability that could be useful. Now that she'd been rescued, been used by these her noble rescuers to feel good about themselves, she was barely a person anymore. She felt more like a whore now than all though her ordeal.

Now whenever anyone looked, she put on a small relieved smile. She hated herself for expecting this little bit more, but would it have been so hard to ask if how she was feeling after all that happened? Now that a -noble- was in danger, if he really cared then he wouldn't just forget she existed. There was more kindness in the eyes of Guiche, or even Tabitha, than the one she'd prayed would come and save her. The one who -did- save her. Her fingers clenched into a fist, her nails digging painfully into her palm. These selfish thoughts... how so unworthy and ungrateful. Now she knew they shouldn't have bothered at all.

She could feel in the distance something familiar, something that shone with self-confidence. Her own meager light had the choice of shrinking until it died, or burning her body from the inside out.

A farmer's daughter understood the bounds of fealty. A daughter to her father. A landsman to his lord. A wife to her husband. A familiar to his master, even. Of course her life was worth much less than a noble. A noblewoman had power, wealth, and from her womb bring forth children with more of that terrible magic. Of course he'd lose sight of her.

"Tch." Miss Longueville hissed and tapped at the side of the carriage.

"Is something wrong?" asked Guiche.

The woman's cool gaze flicked to the crate and then up to the roof. "This is too confining. If we're attacked we can't just jump clear."

"Aren't you Old Osmond's secretary?" Kirche asked archly. "I'm surprised you show so much familiarity with battle."

"Oh, a woman has to know these things." she answered with a tight smile. "I'm not a noble anyway, so being able to protect myself... that's only good sense."

Kirche could just smell a juicy scandal. No way someone as beautiful and competent as Miss Longueville would come out of nowhere. Maybe she was looking at a kindred spirit. "Really? If it's possible, please tell me in depth how you lost your status."

Miss Longueville just smiled a bit more, unwilling to speak further. There was something vaguely contemptous in that smile.

Kirche's own smile was more predatory. She began to lean forward. "Just a little bit? Please?"

It was Guiche who let out a low groan. "Don't rake up people's pasts. It's impolite." The talk of secrets and what had happened was causing him to itch all over. Coming from a military family, he knew just how people can lose noble status without being directly responsible for it. The easiest way was through being stripped of it by the Crown for various misdeeds. The more common way was from the death of families or the destruction of lands. War made and destroyed noble titles.

Kirche huffed and sat back sullen. She was told that the exchange would happen in an abandoned shack deep in the forest past the Academy, about four hours away by horse. She was bored, and the ride over the stony road too bumpy to let her sleep. Tabitha had her eyes closed, asleep or not she was far too relaxed. Everyone else was trying to blank out their thoughts and let the time pass by. It was already past midnight.

Siesta had listened to the conversation without interest. She focused on that feeling within her. Nobles bickering over status, how foolish. For all their power, they still weren't sure just what to do with themselves. All this bickering just to find some surety of purpose.

_'I'm not afraid anymore.'_ she realized with some surprise, and her posture while sitting was straighter than these nobles with her. 'I'm not really sad about this. Strange.' Maybe, she supposed, it still didn't feel real. Maybe it was really all just a dream. So what else did she have to lose?

And so she laughed, at first a light chuckle, then finally a belly-laugh, and she couldn't stop. The oppressive silence in the carriage going into the forest was broken; the others looked insulted, then finally had to hold her down.

"She's gone mad!" Kirche said with a huff as Seista accidentally punched her in the jaw. "Why did we have to bring this useless maid?"

Tabitha's hands on Siesta's neck moved in practiced, soothing motions that worked to calm down the maid's hysteria. Tabitha was intimately familiar with these fits. Her reply held a chiding note. "Awareness."

Outside in the cold, Colbert was driving the coach. The mission was supposed to be swift and secret. The noises inside the carriage drew his attention, but the boy beside him might as well have been made of stone.

Then the ground behind them erupted in smoke and noise. The horses neighed in terror and bolted, until the carriage struck a rock and near tipped over. There were no such thing as seatbelts for carriage drivers, usually commoners, and while Colbert could hang on with the reins Shinji was thrown clear. The boy's face remained calm even as he tumbled in mid-air, waiting for a surely painful but survivable landing.

The night lit up, trees were burned straight through, and the boy was thrown even further as a Beam Shot again struck him straight to the face. Something flashed in the darkness, and the roof was sliced off the carriage. More explosions. The horses were wailing in terror and with a flick of his wrists Colbert conjured line of flame from his thumb, cutting free the horses rather than have them cripple themselves. The carriage rolled right out of control.

The air thickened, acquiring glowing pink motes. Anyone looking from on high would have seen lines of pink fire spreading out from under the shadow of trees, in straight lines crossing each other to trace a six-pointed star.

Louise awoke to the sound of a soul in torment.

"No, stop! No more!" someone was crying. "Please stop! I can't take it anymore ..."

There was laughter, like dry brush across a wooden floor. "And THEN! This is the tricky part. After having boiled the meat, they must be stripped from the bone. Some good sized chunks you can get from the back and saddle, better left whole. The broth may be discarded. The meat may then be seasoned with pepper and salt and sesame oil and let stand awhile to acquire more flavor."

"Hurrrgh."

Louise watched, disbelievingly, as a young man in a tight black bodysuit with moulded armor crawled on the floor trying not to cry or vomit and not really succeeding much at either. Seated facing back on a chair, was a strange woman in a long leather dress. There was clear savage glee on her face as she tortured with a rabbit recipe.

Putting this strange overdramatic scene aside, Louise tried to get up only to find her arms were bound behind her. The old floorboards creaked loudly as she adjusted position from lying on her side to up on her knees.

"Ah, our guest joins us in the land of the living."

Louise glared up defiantly, recognizing the woman from before. "Who are you? What do you want?"

Both her kidnappers winced. "Starting off with the heavy questions, Le Blanc?" Sasaki replied. She made a show of thinking carefully. "Right now... those answers aren't important." She smiled. "But we should be polite? Like before, you may call me Sasaki. This is my protege, Roland."

"Pleased to make your acquaintance." the young blonde said with a bow as he leaned towards a window.

Unconsciously Louise nodded in return, then in realizing that may have been meant in mockery began to struggled in her bonds. "You idiots better let me go or you're going to regret it! You don't know what you're dealing with!"

"I'm regretting it already." the young man moaned. "Blaghargh." he poked his head outside and hurled.

"Oh, don't worry. You get to live today, little Louise." Sasaki brought out a small dagger from her bodice. "Of course, that doesn't mean you have to be returned -intact-."

Louise gulped and froze. Mages tended to deride simple steel as the tool of the peasants, and while the elite fought with magic and swords most were trained since birth that commoners with pointy objects were no threat to a well-prepared mage. The wand was mightiest weapon in all Helkeginia.

"So little. So helpless." Sasaki whispered huskily. She drew in and licked up Louise's cheek.

Now Louise had one more reason to be utterly terrified. She hurled herself away and roughly toppled over on her side. "You- you filthy commoner! Stay back!" Louise began screaming as she was rolled to lie face-down. "Stop… please. Don't…!" She felt a tug on her thigh-high stockings, and a pinch as the garter snapped back.

"Your zone of absolute territory… how irritating." That whisper was too close! She looked up to see that the other kidnapper was resolutely facing the wall. Louise couldn't help the tears the clouded her eyes. A noble's third child; she was just a spare, as a mage she was a failure, but before all of that she was a young woman. This was her most basic fear, the consequence of being helpless.

Then she felt shoulder muscles long tensed from the position suddenly relax. Her arms were free. "Oh, get over yourself, LeBlanc." said her kidnapper. "If I wanted to molest someone who had no chest, I'd get a pretty boy."

Louise flashed through the boundary between terror and rage. She spun around and punched out. Her fist cracked upon a smirking face.

"Ow." Louise squeaked. It was like punching a rock.

"Go ahead and get your aggression out of your system." Sasaki said gently. "There's no reason we need to make this a pain until your familiar gets here." She tilted her head to the side, puppy-like. "Unless you like pain?"

'This woman's insane!' "Uh. No. No pain!" Louise replied hurriedly.

"Are you sure? A little humiliation can feel good too."

"No! None of that!" _'Founder damn you, Shinji! Where are you?'_ "I won't make trouble! Just… stay away!"

"Good!" Sasaki answered cheerily. "Roland, get the tea."

The black-clad teenager shuffled over to a pot over a charcoal-fired stove. "If not the carbonized flesh of dead animals, it's bitter boiled leaf juice. I just don't understand you people."

Sasaki brought out a long piece of card and held it up to the large red jewel on her ruffle collar. A source atonal voice commented "MODE: RECOVERY" as the oblate gem lit up. "CONTENT DOWNLOADED".

She tossed it aside, and a magical circle sprang into being. The card spun in mid-air and shone a light down out of the oval shape on its back. Misty shapes began to appear below. Then with a flash a round table with three chairs were just suddenly there. The furniture were richly-decorated, with ornate bands of gold and ivory on dark hardwood.

"You're a mage!" Louise gasped. She didn't want to, but that bit of knowledge was slightly comforting. A look of maternal disappointment crossed her captor's remaining eye.

"Sit down and be civilized, Le Blanc." Sasaki smoothly slid onto one of the seats. "No. I am extremely proud to say, I am not a mage. I am…" here a card suddenly flicked into existence between her fingers, then gone again. "A summoner."

"A what?"

"Interested in knowing the styles of magic before Brimir made popular all this wand-waving? Unlike wanded magic, it's all about mental preparation then feeding runes with brute power, something you shouldn't have as much difficulty evoking." She chuckled. "All magic is summoning magic at some level."

"Ye-.. I mean, no! Now you're a heretic too?" Louise pointed straight with her right index finger while her left fist was balled up at her waist. "I won't be tempted that easily!"

"Technically, she's an apostate." Roland mentioned chidingly as he set down a bowl of green tea in front of Louise. The young noble wrinkled her nose in disgust.

"LeBlanc, do remember the conventions of a hostage-captor relationship." Sasaki said while taking a sip to show the proper way of drinking. "Behave and you might learn something about your familiar. Make trouble and I'll just knock you out until he arrives."

Louise very reluctantly took a seat, staring at the steam rising from the porcelain cup. The glaze was brown and rough, but deliberately so.

"You're thinking of throwing that hot tea in my face and making a break for it." Sasaki added idly. "You won't succeed. Cooperate or be educated some other way."

"I'm not sure I believe you, but fine." Copying Sasaki's gesture, she brought the cup to her lips. "Ugh. No sugar even?" She got back a look that implied _'Better be grateful this is the worst torture you get for now, or I might have to give you something to complain about.'_ Louise considered her situation. Her question hadn't been answered at all. "So what do you really want? Money? My father can pay, he's a Duke you know, but don't be too greedy."

In some way, Louise found this rather thrilling now. What was she really worth to her family? Her father proving his love and care for his youngest daughter, it would be nice to be the center for a change. Then she realized she was due for a big scolding from her mother and eldest sister anyway for bothering her father and froze up.

Sasaki put down her cup and made a thoughtful 'hmm', with her hands to her chin. "How shall we pass the time, I wonder?" She blinked. "Ah!" She made a small circle in the air and then laid her palm down. Then she flipped her hand up and there was now a deck of Tarot cards on her palm.

"I want you to pick out five cards, little Louise." She made a show of shuffling and reversing cuts of the deck at random.

Louise regained her senses. "You can't be serious." she said with a narrow gaze. "Card tricks. Nobody does that anymore."

Sasaki clapped her palms together in a praying pose, the deck held between them. "My servant that exists somewhere in this vast universe, my most divine, most beautiful, most wise, most powerful servant, heed my call! I wish from very bottom of my heart, Pentagon of the Five Elemental Powers, Heed my summoning... and bring forth...my familiar!" she crooned mockingly. "You just had to change up a sacred chant to suit your own desires, didn't you? Fate gave you –exactly- what you asked for.

Louise bit her lip. "He… he's not beautiful."

"Ahaha. Ohh… you have noo idea." Sasaki laid the cards face-down on the table. "You've thought it before, haven't you? An animal may have no choice but to obey, or will show loyalty if you treat it with care… but what would the perfect servant have need of such a master as you? What do you really –have- that can compel him to obey?

This is what I want. Only you can tell you where you're going."

Louise blinked, bewildered, then huffed. "Fine. I'll play along." She took out one card, but before she could flip it up to look at what it was, Sasaki pulled it from her hand and laid it on the table. At the gesture to continue, Louise continued to pull out cards and they were laid out as such:

- **5** -  
**4** - **1** - **2**  
- **3** -

"Turn, the wheel of Eliphas, and uncover the mists of time." Sasaki chanted, but in a flippant tone. "What strange new worlds do we behold upon in the sea of probability?"

She put a hand over the center card, and said "This is the present, which shows influences upon… the present or event. Ooh. I wonder why you're trapped in a dark forest cabin with two weirdos?"

Off to the side, Roland sighed. Fact was fact.

Sasaki flipped it over. It was a sun, with a stylized face. The label was upside-down to Louise. "Ah. The Sun reversed. You may be unhappy or lonely. Life may seem to have come to standstill? Relationships… may be going through a though time. Failures may happen; leaving you depressed."

Louise hid a wince. No, that had to be a coincidence. Fortune-telling was for those with lack of faith in Brimir's grace, that was why while not really outlawed it was thought of as the pastime of the weak-willed and gullible.

Sasaki lifted and eyebrow and moved to the card to the right. "Waning Influences, LeBlanc- those that led to this events or those that have been overcome." She flipped it over. "The Card of Judgement, reversed. Interesting." She spoke evenly, as if reading from a manual. "This is a period of stagnation. You may fear failure and thus try to delay it by taking no decisions. Your health may not be too good. You may also develop a fear towards death. You also suffer from a feeling of guilt for your actions."

Louise was very, very careful not to show any reaction whatsoever.

The third card directly below the first "Hidden or Unconscious Influences… are hidden or unknown influences, I suppose?" That too was flipped over. "The Devil." Sasaki looked genuinely surprised. "Your dark side may be trying to take over your good side. Do not give in to materialistic decisions that may spoil your life. Give up habits that are doing you harm. There may be an unexpected failure or loss; you may feel frustrated and oppressed."

Louise snorted. "T-that may better apply to you."

"It's not the first time I've been called a demon." Sasaki replied evenly. She moved to the card to left of the first. "Emerging Influences, those that may affect or influence your current problem." She flipped it over to show a chariot with ten eyes painted onto the side. "The Chariot. You may see success soon. Have a positive outlook towards life and keep away from negative people. Perseverance is the key to your success. You will be able to overcome your adversaries due to you decisiveness." She couldn't help but chuckle. "This is a good time for travel."

A cold tingle travelled up Louise's spine. Much as she distrusted this reading, that was pretty much her entire life principle. Never giving up, never show any weakness, someday… she would prove them all wrong.

"And the last." Sasaki's tone was deadly serious. "Synthesis. The meaning of all these influences. Not the future, no- nothing so crude. Your fate will be yours to endure." She turned it over. "The Tower." A red tower rose high over a barren wasteland. "There may be a sudden change or disruption in your life. A relationship may end. Monetary security reduces. Your routine is thrown out of control. Things may not happen you way, make the best of the situation.

Louise gasped, realizing she'd been holding her breath. She stared at the assembly of cards in front of her and then angrily slammed her palms on the table. "Just parlor tricks!" she hissed out.

Sasaki shrugged. "I'm not asking you to believe in this. Believe in what you want to believe, that is what will define you."

There was distant rumble and the ground shook. The cards all slid off the table.

Sasaki tilted her head to the side and smiled. "Oh? So they're here already?"

"What was that?" Roland asked, while laying the back of his left hand over the large red gem on his belt buckle. He stared at his mentor's catlike expression. "What did you do?"

"I've been here a couple of days. I… may… have set a few traps to test the resolve of our… good friends."

"I thought you said we should avoid violence?"

" Yes." Sasaki tilted her head to the other side. "But that wouldn't be as much fun, would it?" She pointed to the wall with her left hand and licked her lips. "Bang." she whispered. "Educate thyself."

More explosions.

Guiche coughed and felt strong hands helping him back up. He blinked and rubbed dust out of his face.  
"You? The maid-… uh. Siesta, is it?"

"Yes, sir Gramont."

"Ah. Well. Thank you." He rubbed at his shoulder and looked around. "What just happened?"

Siesta shrugged. "I don't know." she replied softly. "I don't know where the others are either." She kept her face down and shyly folded her hands onto her lap. The white of her maidservant's dress was stained by grass and dirt. Guiche could see these clearly because everything around them seemed to be on fire.

Guiche blinked again, and tried to knock the numbness out the side of his head. He looked around to see that they were inside a circle of strange pink fire. He could feel the heat, and the flames were taller than the trees but seemed to be burning unceasingly from nothing more than bare dirt. There were gaps in the circle of fire, three long corridors burned clear of foliage leading deeper into the forest.

He saw the remains of the carriage. "I suppose the others already went ahead? But why would they do that?" It was most impolite, not even to try and wake him up. As a gentleman it was his duty and privilege to walk ahead of the ladies and towards danger. He sighed. And it had started out as such a nice day. "I suppose we'll have to go in after them."

"Um… begging your pardon, sir."

"Oh, right. Yes. I can hardly expect a commoner to try and deal with a mage problem. You can stay here instead. It should be sir."

"Sir!" Siesta added firmly. "I'm not going to run away." She waved over to a large fallen box. "But... it would be pointless if we don't bring along what this is all about."

"The Staves of Destruction. I suppose they could be useful." Guiche flicked his wand and the heavy box rose into the air. "Stay close. You-" Guiche halted suddenly. His eyes became unfocused, and slowly he turned towards one of the passages. The young mage began to shamble off, cocking his head aside as if listening to a music only he could hear. The box dropped back to the ground with a loud bang.

Siesta yelped and belatedly put her hands to her ears. "Um. Sir Gramont?" She was now alone in the clearing. "Mister Ikari? Anyone?"

She took deep breaths and put a hand over her chest to feel her heartbeat. It surprised her to find out that while her pulse was increased, her heart didn't know fear. The maid went over to the large box and experimentally tugged at the straps. It was too heavy for her to lift, but maybe if she pulled? She had no power of her own, except perhaps the strength that was the birthright of a farmer's daughter. It may not be easy, it may not be quick, but there was no one else around and it was something she could do.

Siesta closed her eyes and felt the hot winds caress her face. There, in the distance, she could feel a strange cold tugging. And there, she was sure, she would find him. She was but a commoner, but damn it all she had her own will, and as she snarled - dragging the weapon box behind her – she would have answers too!

"It's a nice night." said Sasaki, while baring her teeth wide. "Don't you agree? Such beautiful weather." She dragged Louise out into the open and relished the young girl's fear.

"This is unreasonably conspicuous!" Roland shouted, waving his arms around. "Have you gone mad, teacher?"

"It's coming. You've never experienced weather before. You've never experienced the storm. How it starts so softly, light, the stars, fading away. First there is silence. Then the first weak patter of raindrops without the wind." Louise was bound in rope. "And then- the fury. The untamed power. I –will- see it again, one last time. And for you… little ones… learn."

Louise wanted to spit in her face, but was more concerned with trying not to choke from the rope around her neck. This was beyond humiliating. Yet it was clear there was no spite in the strange woman.

"You still don't understand, do you?" Sasaki continued. "If it had been anyone… literally anyone else… you and this world could have continued a while longer in ignorance. But now there's literally only two choices- salvation or extinction. Angels or demons." She took a deep breath. "You all burn so bright…."

Siesta stopped and put her hands to her knees, heaving for breath. She was getting closer. She could feel it. She could hear it. She could see it.

Somewhere out there was Mister Colbert and Miss Longueville, and though she didn't know them she could feel a certain fondness towards them. Very much like a student to her teachers, but that didn't make sense.

_**Serpent of flame in the grass**_  
_**Crumbling manor made of sand**_  
_**Ah! If they're not careful, they make mirrors of glass.**_  
_**And windows into the secrets of their past.**_

She could almost see them recoil as the words drifted through the winds, then with Miss Longueville intentionally stepping a few steps back. The bald mage would look back, friendly inquiry on his face. His smile would be deliberately disarming, for Colbert had sworn never again to overlook little clues that would lead him into another tragic mistake.

_**Red devil, blue devil**_  
_**Fire and ice, betrayers of each other**_  
_**The Ardent Flame withers in time, beauty and passion into dust**_  
_**And only the dragons will remember the child without a home**_

She thought about those two young mages. It didn't take much dig up her own feelings of envy. Yet, there was also pity. Why? These two were almost perfect examples of female nobility- self-assured, powerful, able to take and hold whatever they wanted. But as she could sense two figures step out of the shadows, Siesta was forced to realize that such powers were of course finite. True power was something deeper, clawing out naked and screaming into the sun through violence and loss.

_**Legends in time, but one**_  
_**Stands alone, trying to understand**_  
_**Reach for power! Be hungry for it! There are many kinds**_  
_**Clutch them all! For that is the only way you'll survive**_

Guiche screamed like a mouse when he realized where he was and what he was facing. Among the students, Guiche was the figure of nobility Siesta loathed; weak but utterly convinced of their own entitlement. A commoner was beneath the notice of this womanizer, which was something of a blessing. But she was afraid. Something about Guiche scared her on a fundamental level.

And then, her vision cleared. She could see him now, looking so young and so lost. Shinji got up and was hit again by a bright yellow beam from the shadows. He was thrown to the ground, the skin from his elbows scraping off in bloody chunks and his shirt bursting into flame. Gasping bent around wormlike until could get to kneeling position. Slowly he tried to push back to his feet. His shirt seemed to re-knit itself, like burning in reverse. For a moment, Siesta thought of someone poking the tip of his little finger into a fishbowl. If he could talk with the fishes in the bowl, wouldn't the fishes think that this they could see was the being they were conversing with?

**_Why do you even bother to get up again?_**  
**_You deserve to be hated_**  
**_You liar. Liar. Liar. Liar. Liar._**  
**_Don't pretend you actually care!_**

The boy clenched his fists, grabbing at the soil. Still kneeling, he threw his head and screamed. Tears bubbled into steam on his face.

That does it. Deserved to be hated? Whoever was saying that, she didn't care, deserved a kick to the teeth. Siesta grit her teeth and grabbed at the straps of the weird otherworldly box and began to haul. She took bow-legged giant steps and with the haze of outrage over her being time began to lose all meaning.

She could hear his whimpering, and the delight of someone in the distance. She didn't have much, except the peasant's strength in her limbs, and she wanted to put her hands around someone's neck.

Sasaki looked at the passage cut through the forest by flame and overpressure. "The players arrive."

First to appear were Miss Longueville and Mister Colbert, who kept a careful distance and regarded each other with wary understanding. The edge of the former's dress looked slightly singed while there was mud all over the teacher's shoulders. Their eyes widened at seeing Louise with a hangman's rope over her neck.

"Release her, now." Colbert said in an uncommonly firm tone. He held his wand out and pointing slightly downward. Longueville had took the same combat posture but her wand held closer to her hip.

"Ah, ah." Sasaki grabbed Louise in a neck lock and began to stroke down the side of the girl's neck with her index finger. With each pass, the fingernail lengthened and sharpened until it was like a small dagger. "Have patience, honored educators."

The two tensed and lowered their wands. Before they could speak however, they were distracted by laughter coming from behind. Kirche and Tabitha had arrived. "If more people were enlightened as you about sharing, there would be any need for- hello." Kirche took in the strange sight before here. The two people she didn't know, wearing clothes of tight black leather, couldn't look more stereotypically evil if they tried. Or, she mused, highly-regarded experts at bondage games.

"This looks interesting."

Tabitha lightly tapped Kirche's shoulder with her staff. "Dangerous."

Guiche was not having a good day. And it had started out so well. He saw what waited ahead and gave out a loud half-moan half-sob. "Damn you, Ikari. What more is there?" He floated into the clearing carried by a large silvered female-shaped suit of armor with brilliant white wings. He sighed and pointed towards Sasaki and Louise. "Virthandi… EXTERMI-"

"Move."

The golem let out a yelp and leapt aside.

Guiche grunted, feeling his body as a mass of bruises. He clambered to peek over the construct's shoulder's to see Shinji shuffle into view. "Oh. It's you." Whatever additional complaints Guiche wanted to deliver shriveled on seeing just how more beaten and tired the boy looked.

Shinji looked up. His eyes were red and puffy, his cheeks were sunken, as if he hadn't slept for days. "Louise-sama…" he whispered. He blinked. He looked at Sasaki and began to clench and unclench his fists. "Leave her out of this. If you want to beat me up, I'm here."

Sasaki smirked. "Don't flaunt your masochism at me, Ikari-kun."

"wait, really?" aside, Kirche cooed with enthusiasm.

Shinji looked at her intensely until, impatiently, Louise cried out "What are you standing around there fore, familiar! Rescue me! I don't-… I don't know, this is your fault somehow."

"I'm sorry." Shinji sucked in his breath. "Why are you here? What do you want from me?" The night air grew thick.

Sasaki smirked "I want you to answer this:

**_Beautiful am I, brightest star_**  
**_Worshipped by lovers and sages_**  
**_My rainment is heavy, my body is hot_**  
**_I hide my face from my twin_**  
**_So much does she fear me that her children_**  
**_Would rather seek shelter with my husband_**  
**_Whose is mantle is war_**

**_Who am I?"_**

Tired and annoyed, Shinji took a few moments to gather the required answer. The others were being led to the wrong answer by the sixth line. "Venus." Shinji whispered. His eyes widened with realization.

_'Why Venus?'_ Colbert was thinking. The saint didn't have a twin, and her husband was not a better succor to her children. The opposite, in fact.

Sasaki smiled and took her hand away from Louise's neck. She held it out palms-up, and a large blue glowing globe sparked into being in the air above her palm. It grew larger and acquired variations in color until it was a slowly spinning blue globe, a planet with two moons. "Greetings from the world of Death Fog."

There was a high-pitched scream, and everyone felt cold down to the bone suddenly. One of the moons began to drift out of orbit, slowly plunging towards the planet. Then, the scream returned and for longer. Everyone felt their own teeth shake within their skulls. Out from the blue planet there was a spot of red, which quickly expanded to devour almost half the north hemisphere. Six pairs of bright wings erupted from the hellish epicenter.

The moon slammed onto the emerging bright-white giant.

The shockwave rippled through the world, and what was once blue was consumed by blood-red fire.

Sasaki closed her hand and the spectral display vanished. Shinji, sapped of strength in will and muscle, dropped to his knees.

"_**Where am I?**_" Sasaki asked then.

"... here ' the boy mumbled numbly. "You're **–here**-."

"What -was- that?" Colbert asked in academic interest. Those on airships could clearly see that the horizon curved away when from on high. The classical explanation was a dome supported by… something… but there recently the theory was the world was indeed a sphere. It was no less a workable hypothesis as the old model, specially since it didn't need to explain why those nearer the rim didn't just slide down the dome. "Are you saying you're from another world? Astounding."

Sasaki sighed. Of course, Colbert didn't understand what part moons played in planetary development and climate. Not yet, at least. For all he knew, all other worlds had or even required two moons to be habitable.

"I've had enough." Miss Longueville snapped from beside him. She gave the teacher a gesture with her left palm, implying 'don't interfere- I won't endanger your students unnecessarily' and got reluctant agreeing nod in return. "I don't care who you are or what you want." She mumbled a long chant and gestured with her wand. Instantly a massive earth golem rose from the ground to impressed 'oooh's from the students. "You can either stand down and release Miss La Valliere, or you can be beat to submission. Harm her, and you'll be beat to death."

The golem knocked its fists together for emphasis. She wasn't kidding. She was no stranger to death, but outright murder tended to complicate things. For instance, killing any noble students would likely provoke a massive outcry from public, provoked the assorted parents and a rabid (wo)manhunt would erupt. The name Fouquet become anathema, as Tristain would try and recover the great insult to its security and esteem. Security and willingness to use lethal force would increase even in other nations, even if they figured out she was a woman. If necessary a thief like her would threaten death to her targets, but escaping was always of more urgent importance. Killing, though it made escapades more difficult, would only hamper her efforts in the long run.

Criminals tended to be fair game however. She smirked. They had to know that.

Sasaki looked around pointedly. "Oops. It looks like the Staff of Destruction isn't here. That's too bad. There isn't anything to gain from all your posturing, Fouquet the Crumbling Sand."

Miss Longueville's cheek twitched in irritation. There was a dramatic gasp from Kirche, but like most of them there she didn't particularly care. After what they'd already gone through just to get there, such a little revelation was nothing special.

"Are you angry, Ikari? Are you in despair?" Sasaki said with a demeted grin. "Shall I shout to all of them your sins, all the death and suffering that follows in your wake?"

"Shut up." the boy ground out. "What do you want from me? Leave them alone. I don't even care w..."

"YOU LIAR. You may not care for yourself, but so what? You are not beyond the touch of suffering! You who spent so long denying everything, what did you think would happen when you allowed this little pink-haired spore into your heart? She is a conduit! An escape hatch! For all the old horrors you've devoured! There are other beings, who have long been circling waiting for the chance to feast upon even a creature such as you."

The boy made no reply.

"You sounds as if you know quite a bit about my dear Shinji." Kirche said, raising her wand. She didn't like seeing the boy so small and defeated. So weak. It was unsightly. This dark woman was killing the fire, the otherwordly charisma, that drew her attention in the first place. "Speak clearly now. Will your surrender?"

"Fuh fuh fuh. Surrender? There is no fate but that which we make! Or rather... what HE makes." Sasaki lowered her head. "Ikari. The world will end. When you came here, you doomed us all. It can be prevented here, right now, by removing your chains. Break free. Leave. Never come back."

Tabitha stepped forward. "Unacceptable." she said flatly.

Sasaki laughed. "He has begun. He will destroy you all. Your lives will be used up, your souls burnt into nothing."

"I won't let anyone die for my sake." Shinji said suddenly. He clenched his fists. "If there is no fate, then I simply refuse your scenario."

Sasaki laughed some more. It hurt her insides in a way that she thought she couldn't feel anymore. "It has already begun! You have made people wear masks made out of your own flesh. Do you remember the old question; what can change the nature of a man? YOU can! You have the power. You transform humans.

Look around you! See who you gathered by accident! You have brought to this forest FIVE TEENAGERS WITH ATTIDUDE. You have also brought two reasonable authority figures that would nevertheless bend the rules to serve a greater good.

Do you not see it yet, boy WHO ONCE PILOTED A GIANT ROBOT?"

"... cyborg alien quasi-transcendant entity." Roland, a Red Tower devotee, reflexively corrected.

He was ignored by everyone, of course. Horror was starting to spread across Shinji's face.

"Yes!" said Sakaki, pumping her right fist in the air then bringing them both to her hips. "I have come from the distant future of 2004 to tell you that trying to escape your destiny will only end in ruin! For me the world ends in a Twos-day, but for you - "

"Oh gods no." Shinji moaned.

"IT'S MORPHING TIME!"

...

...

* * *

... yeah I'm just going to stop it right there. Let's pretend this whole thing never happened.

Sadly, I'm going to have to classify this fic as a failure. I messed up by introducing even more voices in the head, it should have been just invisible observer Asuka; like in RE-TAKE. Adding further complications for later plot tweests just further ruined it. I should probably re-write it to focus less on generic 'awesomeness' and play up more the unholy abomination angle... emphasis on unholy. The AT-field might start messing up magic, because under its domain they was no other power that may exist unless it was greater than itself. I originally planned on writing a 'death of magic' storyline, but eh. Louise in rewrite would be getting a familiar that reinforces her assorted psychological issues as a screw-up.

... or I could just go totally crazy and have them really need to form a sentai squad. Earth! Fire! Wind! Water! Hea- Void!

By their powers combined- he is Captain Pla-... Ultrama-... uh... LASTMAN!

(ting!)

Incidentally, I did an IRL tarot reading for this and what's up there really is what came out on the first attempt.


End file.
